Adult Education and Learning in Europe

Ekkehard Nuissl (ed.)
Adult Education and Learning in Europe
Evaluation of the Adult Education Action within the
SOCRATES Programme
Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung
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Abstract
Ekkehard Nuissl (Ed.) (1999): Adult Education and Learning in Europe
Evaluation of the Adult Education Action within the SOCRATES Programme
Internationalität gewinnt für den Weiterbildungsbereich zunehmend an Bedeutung, doch ist
ihr konkrete Mehrwert ("Added Value") für die erwachsenenpädagogische Praxis eine
bislang schwer zu definierende Größe. Dieser Band präsentiert die Ergebnisse einer
Evaluation von rund 100 internationalen Kooperationsprojekten, die im Rahmen des EUProgrammes SOKRATES gefördert wurden. Zahlreiche Beispiele zeigen die derzeit
bestehenden Möglichkeiten und Grenzen europäischer Kooperation auf, schlußfolgernd
werden Perspektiven für eine künftige europäische Weiterbildungspolitik entwickelt.
Untersucht werden dabei u.a. die Aspekte: internationale Netzwerkarbeit, Nachhaltigkeit der
Ergebnisse, Übertragbarkeit der Produkte, Möglichkeiten der Dissemination.
Adult Education
and Learning in Europe
Evaluation of the Adult Education Action
within the SOCRATES Programme
Final Report of the Project
“MOPED – Monitoring of Projects:
Evaluation as Dialogue”
edited by
Ekkehard Nuissl
on behalf of the expert group:
Arne Carlsen, Paolo Federighi,
Joaquín García Carrasco, Ekkehard Nuissl,
Skevos Papaioannou, Naomi Sargant,
André Schläfli
in co-operation with Susanne Lattke
Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE)
Frankfurt am Main 1999
With the support of the European Commission
SOCRATES Programme, Adult Education Action
The German Institute for Adult Education (Deutsches Institut fuer Erwachsenenbildung
DIE) is financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science and the
German Laender. It is a research institute, which provides a bridge between the theory
and practice of adult education. Its principal areas of operation are:
– supplying the scientific community and adult education practitioners with information, documentation and materials,
– the practical development of adult education for the scientific community and
practitioners by means of conferences, working parties and projects,
– the publication of materials dealing with adult and continuing education relevant
to both the scientific community and to practitioners,
– initiating and executing research work in the area of adult and continuing education,
– contributing to the transfer of research findings to their practical applications
through training courses.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek – CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Adult education and learning in Europe : evaluation of the adult
education action within the SOCRATES programme ; final report of
the project “MOPED – Monitoring of projects: evaluation as
dialogue” / Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE),
Frankfurt am Main. Ed. by Ekkehard Nuissl. On behalf of the expert
group: Arne Carlsen … In co-operation with Susanne Lattke. –
Frankfurt am Main : DIE, 1999
ISBN 3-933222-24-9
© 1999 Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung, DIE,
Hansaallee 150, D-60320 Frankfurt am Main
Editor: Ekkehard Nuissl
in co-operation with Susanne Lattke
Contributors: Arne Carlsen, Nordic Folk Academy, Göteborg
Paolo Federighi, University of Florence
Joaquín García Carrasco, University of Salamanca
Ekkehard Nuissl, Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung, Frankfurt am Main
Skevos Papaioannou, University of Crete
Naomi Sargant, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales),
Leicester
André Schläfli, Schweizerische Vereinigung für Erwachsenenbildung, Zurich
Cover/Layout: Grafisches Büro Horst Engels, Bad Vilbel
Print: Druckerei Lokay, Reinheim
2
Table of Contents
Preface ................................................................................................... 5
I.
Introduction .................................................................................... 7
II.
Outcomes and Achievements of European Co-operation
Projects in the Field of Adult Education and Learning ................. 15
a) Demand ................................................................................. 16
b) Supply .................................................................................... 19
c) Accreditation and Certification .............................................. 24
d) Support .................................................................................. 29
III. Evaluation and Analysis ................................................................ 35
a) European Added Value ........................................................... 36
b) Innovation .............................................................................. 39
c) Networking ............................................................................ 42
d) Intercultural Co-operation ...................................................... 46
e) Dissemination ........................................................................ 49
f) Transferability ......................................................................... 52
g) Sustainability .......................................................................... 56
h) Project Administration ........................................................... 59
IV. Conclusions ................................................................................... 63
a) Why a European Policy in Adult Education and Learning? .... 63
b) Suggestions for a European Policy in Adult Education ........... 67
c) Advice in management of the Adult Education dimension
within European Programmes ................................................ 71
V.
Appendices ................................................................................... 75
a) List of Projects under the Action “Adult Education”
of the SOCRATES Programme, 1995-1997 ............................. 75
b) Case Studies and 20-liners ..................................................... 91
c) The Experts in MOPED ......................................................... 112
Publications ........................................................................................ 114
3
4
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL XXII
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND YOUTH Directorate A –
Action in the field of education, implementation of
Socrates Unit 4
Preface
The SOCRATES programme has been running since 1995. Within this programme the Adult Education Action is specifically aimed at increasing
transnational co-operation between institutions operating in the field of
adult education and thereby enhancing the quality of adult education in
Europe.
General adult education encompasses a wide range of subjects and a
variety of actors. These subjects range from health and environment to intercultural education and from literacy to access to universities for adults. The
institutions providing adult education vary greatly from country to country: belonging to the formal system as well as to the non-formal or even
informal sector (associations, pair education).
This situation constitutes a real challenge, and the Adult Education Action
has had to find the best way to promote the European dimension and to
have an impact on such a complex reality. The choice that was made was
to keep the Adult Education Action as open as possible. This was in order
to benefit from the variety of experiences, systems and cultures at hand and
to make the possibilities of the action available to as many as possible.
The action developed rapidly, thanks to the support of the educational community and to the dedicated work of Mrs. Angela Vegliante, the person in
charge of the Action in the European Commission during these initial years.
In 1997 the first results from projects became available. The Commission
then took the decision to support a study in order to evaluate these outcomes. The study was proposed and carried out by a partnership led by
the German research institute, DIE. The aim of the evaluation was to find
indicators on how best to pursue the Action in order to meet future needs.
The study is now finalised and its results are being made available through
the publication of this book.
5
Experience has shown that the broad approach chosen for the Adult Education Action was the right one, since the most innovative projects have
resulted from the most heterogeneous partnerships (e.g. universities, associations and libraries) and from the mixing together of the most dissimilar
experiences.
We hope that this evaluation will contribute to a better understanding of
European trends in adult education, and also demonstrate what is to be
gained from collecting ideas and experiences at the grass-roots level and
help them mature and develop into policies that can be applied on a local,
national or even European level.
The results of the study confirm that, in society, lifelong learning must be
seen as a necessity and the learner’s needs must come first. This involves
breaking down barriers in order to allow people to continue to learn and
to access learning resources throughout their whole lives.
Some of the European projects have acted as laboratories for this trend. The
pioneer role of the Action and its legacy has been taken into account during
the preparation of the SOCRATES II proposal. In accordance with the
increasingly prominent role of adult learning in our society, the third action
of the SOCRATES II programme has been devoted to adult learning (adult
education and alternative educational pathways). The new action,
GRUNDTVIG, is named after ‘the father of adult education’ in the Nordic
countries. Nicolai F. S. Grundtvig, who lived in the 19th century, believed
that learning in adult life and developing a critical sense was vital in order
for people to reach their full potential, both as citizens and as human
beings. We believe that this message is still very relevant today and could
be a guiding principle in future efforts to develop adult education policy in
Europe.
Joachim FRONIA
Head of Unit
6
I. Introduction
This book presents the results of an evaluation of about one hundred transnational co-operation projects conducted between 1995-1997 with EU
support under the Adult Education Action of the SOCRATES programme,
the European Community programme for education.
The purpose of the evaluation was to analyze the general impact of the
Action by examining to what extent the projects had contributed to improve
the quality of adult education in Europe and to enhance the European
dimension in adult education.
In this way, the evaluation focused on the primary goal of the Action.
Significantly, in the No L 87/10 issue of the Official Journal of the European Communities, 20.4.1995, in which the establishment of the SOCRATES
programme was announced following the approval given by the European
Parliament and the Council in March 1995, the Action was placed under
the heading “Promotion of the European dimension in adult education”.
Since the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Community in 1992,
educational policy has been an increasingly significant sector in European
politics. In the Treaty, the Member States of the European Union resolved
to strengthen their common political endeavours in the field of culture and
education by increasing their involvement in issues relating to knowledge,
information and schooling. Universities, schools, enterprises and organisations, along with state authorities, were, and still are, all called upon to
participate at a European level in implementing this educational policy.
A special role is naturally played by those areas closely linked to economic
and social processes of change. This means above all vocational and
general adult education, which affects everyone in the course of their lives.
Out of this has increasingly emerged the overall concept of learning
throughout one’s life, in which adult education (vocational and general)
plays a central part – for both qualitative and quantitative reasons.
In the two years following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty (1992-94),
various committees worked at European level on the problem of how to
deal with the increased importance of educational and cultural policy:
When the Greek EU presidency started in 1994, plans had already taken
shape. That year the first European Conference on Continuing Education
took place in Athens with the participation of adult education non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Other conferences followed in Dresden,
Madrid, Florence and Manchester.
The significance of education and training in the face of ongoing changes
in our society were then given particular emphasis in the European
7
Commission White Paper on Education and Training, Teaching and
Learning. Towards the Learning Society, published in 1995, which provided
a major point of reference for educational policies and debate in Europe.
The paper names three major factors of upheaval: the onset of the information society, the impact of the scientific and technological world, and
the internationalisation of the economy. These major changes are deeply
affecting the whole of Europe to the point of creating an entirely new form
of society. They bring both risks and opportunities. In order to successfully
counter the first and seize the second education and training have a pivotal
role to play, to a greater extent than ever before. The White Paper set out
the main lines of action to be taken concerning educational policy. These
included:
– encouraging the acquisition of new knowledge;
– bringing school and the business sector closer together;
– combating exclusion;
– developing proficiency in three European languages;
– treating capital investment and investment in training on an equal basis.
The competencies and skills representing key factors in adapting to
economic and social change and therefore to be fostered in individuals
included:
– grasping the meaning of things;
– comprehension and creativity;
– powers of judgement and decision making;
– basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic;
– broad and transferable knowledge;
– social skills.
Discussions and planning of the implementation of European educational
policy, especially in the area of continuing education, led to the establishment of two Community programmes, LEONARDO DA VINCI and
SOCRATES, which, starting in 1995, were both committed to the aims and
objectives put forward by the White Paper. LEONARDO DA VINCI deals
with activities and projects in the vocational training area, SOCRATES does
the same in general education.
Besides the general aims and objectives to be pursued, special attention
was given by these programmes to enhancing the “European dimension”
in education by raising awareness and strengthening a sense of cohesion
within the European Union while fully acknowledging the social and cultural diversity of the Member States, and the wealth of traditions which
need to be preserved. Given the increasing internationalisation in all fields
of life this is to be more and more essential, not only for efficiency reasons
but also for avoiding the risk of cultural uniformity.
8
The Adult Education Action, launched under the SOCRATES programme
in 1995, was designed to allocate grants to two types of projects focusing
on either
A) promotion of knowledge and awareness of Europe, or
B) enhancement of adult education through European co-operation.
The philosophy of the Action together with practical information concerning the requirements to be fulfilled by applicants are set out in detail in the
SOCRATES Guidelines for Applicants and the SOCRATES Vademecum
which are issued annually by the European Commission. Over the years,
the SOCRATES Guidelines have evolved and seen shifts in emphasis as well
as changes in detail. From the onset of the programme, however, the Guidelines have always allowed for a great variety of possible project contents
and outcomes (as can be seen from the short descriptions in the list of
approved projects in Appendix A). For example, according to the Guidelines 1995 and 1996, projects of the first type might have been concerned
with, e.g.
– disseminating knowledge about cultures and traditions in other participating countries and improvement of adult learners’ competence in the
languages of the EU;
– enhancing adult learners’ understanding of political, economic and
administrative aspects of the EU itself.
These projects could have included activities such as:
– seminars or summer universities focusing on co-production of products
by European teams;
– development of teaching modules on political, economic, administrative questions of the EU;
– development of awareness of the European dimension and promotion
of mutual understanding through work on common topics: information
society, media, environmental education, arts, sciences and technologies, local and regional identities.
Possible outcomes and products of the second category of projects, i.e.
those focusing on promoting the quality of adult education through exchanges of experience, innovation and good practice at a European level,
might have included, e.g.:
– directories and data bases;
– guides or files on key issues of adult education; finances and organisation of adult education, validation, assessment, links between initial
education and adult education;
– exchanges and meetings of adult learners on topics relating to Europe;
– comparison of methodologies and development of modules for the training of adult educators.
Any organisation or institution in the field of adult education intending to
9
carry out such a project is invited to apply for a SOCRATES grant, which is
normally provided on a cost-sharing basis and for a maximum duration of
three years. In actual fact, three year projects have become rare, and
projects are mostly now limited to a maximum of two years. Funding for
the second (or, in some cases, the third year) depends on good progress in
project work during the previous year(s) and is only granted on submitting
an additional application for extension.
While being very open in terms of possible project contents, working procedures and eligible institutions, the Action definitely requires in each
project a transnational partnership between organisations from at least three
Member States and the active participation of every partner. The applicant
institution is responsible for co-ordinating the project work.
All applications submitted are evaluated by a panel of internal assessors as
well as by independent external experts.
Besides the European character which must be emphasized in any case,
the success of an application depends on a number of additional criteria,
according to which priority was given to projects which
– were innovative and lend themselves to a transfer of experience,
– aimed at developing ‘concrete products’ e.g. training modules, guides,
– had a high multiplier effect in terms of dissemination power,
– were designed to be completed in a reasonable time frame,
– included high quality evaluation arrangements,
– involved different kinds of organisations and addressed a broad constituency of target groups.
The SOCRATES programme as a whole, and the Action as a component of
it, were conceived as a dynamic framework for promoting and supporting
innovative activities in the educational sector. While designed to cover a
period of five years, this did not imply that the implementation of the Action
was not subject to amendments during this time. Later issues of the Guidelines and the Vademecum, in the years following the first calls for
applications and selection rounds in 1995, brought some modifications for
the application rounds to come. Notably the second category of projects is
now explained in more detail, focusing key issues for the development of
adult education in Europe (promotion and development of individual
demand, improvement of supply of adult education; development of
support services for adult learners and providers, promotion of flexible accreditation and certification systems).
The evaluation project, whose findings are presented in this paper, itself
formed part of the SOCRATES programme. It has been approved as a
‘complementary measure’ early in 1997 and carried out by an expert team
during the following twelve months. Its main purpose was to provide the
Commission with a report, based on a scientific evaluative approach, on
10
how Adult Education Action was evolving, and give advice concerning its
future development. By the end of 1997, which also marked the end of the
evaluation period, 101 projects altogether had been approved and supported by the European Commission. A complete list is to be found in
Appendix A. About seventy of these projects were subject to a thorough
analysis by the experts. The remaining projects passed through the
SOCRATES selection rounds and started their activities only in 1997 and
were therefore considered for the evaluation only in a more global way.
The point of the evaluation was definitely not to make judgements about
the success or failure of individual projects but to focus on the overall functioning and effectiveness of the programme in respect of the achievement
of main European goals.
Given the overall framework, it was rather obvious that the ‘European
dimension’ at issue had also to inform the character of the evaluation itself.
The international team carrying out the analysis was composed accordingly. All the experts had been extensively operating at a European level and
were well acquainted with issues of international co-operation and networking. Arne Carlsen, Paolo Federighi, Ekkehard Nuissl and Skevos
Papaioannou in their respective capacities as director of the Nordic Folk
Academy, president of the European Association for the Education of Adults
(EAEA), president of the European Consortium of Research and Development Institutes for Adult Education (ERDI) and expert from the European
Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA) had been deeply
involved in the activities of various European networks. Naomi Sargant
(National Institute of Adult Continuing Education – NIACE) and Joaquín
García Carrasco (University of Salamanca) come from important national
organisations which are also engaged at an international level, whereas
André Schläfli, as president of the Swiss Federation of Adult Education, has
brought in an additional European view that comes from beyond the European Union. While all experts have contributed considerably to this final
report by means of their evaluation findings and active participation in the
discussions, the authors of the various parts of this text are: Naomi Sargant
(II a, III a-b), Arne Carlsen (II b), André Schläfli (II c, III c-e). The remaining
parts were written by Ekkehard Nuissl, who also reformulated the contributions and compiled and edited this report. More information on these
experts is to be found in Appendix C.
The approach adopted in the evaluation was based on the principles of
dialogue and discourse, in order to make sure that differing views and concepts, according to country, institutional background etc., were sufficiently taken into account. The title that was given to the project is significant:
MOPED – Monitoring of Projects: Evaluation as Dialogue. With the experts
coming from seven different countries, a broad spectrum of approaches and
11
often diverging concepts had first to be made into a coherent whole, able
to satisfy all parts. This was achieved during a number of meetings and
discussions.
Working in close co-operation with the European Commission, the experts
agreed on a set of criteria to be applied for the evaluation. These included:
European Added Value, innovation, co-operation and networking, partnership, cultural transferability, sustainability, dissemination, project organisation and administration. While closely linked to the goals and guidelines
of the SOCRATES programme from which they are basically derived, the
criteria chosen also address aspects which in the course of the evaluation
itself have proved to be important (e.g., project management).
The relevant files and written documents of the projects formed the material basis for the analysis. In addition, interviews with project co-ordinators and project partners took place. Case studies and short descriptions,
the so-called 20-liners, of interesting projects were produced by the experts
to provide further material for the analysis. Two of the case studies and one
20-liner are reproduced in the Appendix to give an idea of the methodology adopted. While this type of research and documentation work was
carried out by the experts individually, the whole group met periodically
in order to exchange information and findings, to discuss and agree upon
working procedures and principles, complying thereby with the rationale
behind the project: Evaluation as Dialogue.
The sample of case studies was selected so as to cover the whole range of
countries and projects involved. Underlying the case studies were the same
analytical criteria that were, in a second phase, used for the overall evaluation. Lists of all case studies and 20-liners that were produced during the
evaluation are also to be found in Appendix B.
Whereas the findings of the evaluation were in many respects encouraging, deficits were revealed in some areas. The most critical issues proved
to be dissemination and sustainability. Most of the projects under study had
concentrated on developing products, often in themselves excellent but
which proved to be non-viable after the project was concluded. Resolving
problems of financing and creating appropriate dissemination structures
will be two major challenges in this area. European Added Value is a
formula for the Action’s overall goal, i.e. enhancing the European dimension in adult education. This is a broad concept and its manifestations in
the individual projects are multifaceted. Generally speaking, the most
successful variants of European Added Value proved to be those taking the
form of transnational co-operation and mutual exchange. Not surprisingly,
given the requirement for co-operation among at least three partners from
different countries, the SOCRATES projects have produced a wide and
impressive variety of networks. Particularly effective seem to be institutional
12
networks which play an independent role in adult education within their
national contexts. Above all, networking in the creation of support structures such as data banks, has proved successful. The difficulties encountered have mainly to do with co-ordination and lack of central organisation. The concept of innovation has proved to be shaky ground. It is a
concept which can hardly be assessed in the absolute but calls for a highly
differentiated view. The Transferability of products was another priority
stipulated in the SOCRATES Guidelines. The evaluation has shown that
successful product transfer requires prior adaptation and adjustment to
meet the difficulties posed by language barriers and differing social and
cultural contexts, in almost every case.
The findings and outcomes of the evaluation according to these criteria are
set out in detail, citing many examples, in Chapter III, Evaluation and
Analysis whereas the preceding Chapter II, Outcomes and Achievements
of European Co-operation Projects in the Field of Adult Education and
Learning, addresses the Adult Education Action from a different point of
view. It presents and pays tribute to the most important outcomes of the
Action and its projects according to four main groupings: demand, supply,
support to improve provision, and issues of accreditation and certification.
Referring to an analytical marketing approach, these are categories which
are currently being widely discussed in continuing education at both
national and European level. Chapter II does not seek to define problems
and solutions by using analytical methods, but deals instead with the
assessment of results available and results expected, respectively.
The numbers used to indicate projects throughout the text, all refer to the
complete list of projects analysed, reproduced in Appendix A. The reader
will also find there a brief description of each project, including the
expected outcomes.
The excellent overall performance of the Adult Education Action during its
first years, as has emerged from the evaluation of the projects under study,
should be emphasised here. Indeed, the projects proved to be a gold mine
for innovation and good practice in many respects. Outstanding results
have been achieved, especially in the development of new teaching and
learning methodologies, in the improvement of European co-operation,
networking and mutual exchange of experience and ideas. Considerable
contributions have also been made to an increased understanding concerning problems of key significance to our society, such as environmental
issues or questions of racism and xenophobia.
With respect to future action, however, it will be no less interesting to note
the gaps that have been revealed by the evaluation. Areas in which a greater
number of projects would have been desirable are to be found especially
in the fields of support and accreditation/certification. The lack of adequate
13
research and evaluation activities in adult education is particularly striking. Relatively few projects were concerned with learner-centred approaches, including activities to increase demand and raise motivation. Future
educational policies will have to pay increased attention to these issues.
This and other conclusions that derive from the analysis and evaluation of
the Adult Education Action are formulated and discussed in Chapter IV.
These conclusions are not just meant to be recommendations for action
but to serve as a contribution to a discussion on meaningful emphases and
future prospects of European adult education. They include both recommendations of a more general nature and others dealing with political and
practical issues relating to the implementation of European programmes in
adult education. What is still vital at a general policy level is to build a
new understanding of adult learning, to raise awareness of the necessity of
education and learning both for society and individuals – not just as a
means for coping with technological and economic changes but for reflecting social change critically and countering its negative aspects.
A differentiated system of adult learning is called for which is embedded
in a more global system of lifelong learning, with close links to other
educational sectors such as schools and higher education institutions and
with bridges between general and vocational education. It is to be hoped
that the separation between these sectors, which is reflected by the different programmes and sub-programmes of the European Commission
(LEONARDO DA VINCI and SOCRATES for vocational and general
education respectively; the latter comprising, among others, the actions
COMENIUS for schools and ERASMUS for higher education), will be
increasingly replaced by enhanced co-operation and cross-sectoral activities.
The evaluation project MOPED was carried out midway through the period
covered by the SOCRATES programme, 1995-99. The evaluation had
therefore been clearly formative in nature and had been intended to provide useful insights and suggestions for the years in the second half of
SOCRATES. However, at the time of printing, while the Action is slowly
coming to its close, the findings and resultant conclusions of the evaluation are no less significant than at the time they were produced. The new
millennium will see new European actions in the field of education and
training. The findings of the evaluation may be relevant for informing the
nature of such future actions by providing indications as to both the success of past activities and existing needs and deficiencies to be addressed
by educational policies over the next few years. A successful European
policy in adult education is needed now more than ever. This report is
meant to make a contribution to supporting the design and implementation of such a policy.
14
II. Outcomes and Achievements of European
Co-operation Projects in the Field of Adult
Education and Learning
The evaluation and analysis of SOCRATES projects running between 1995
and 1997 have revealed a wide variety of innovative approaches in many
different fields of adult education and learning. Before approaching the
analytical criteria and the results of the analysis, dealt with in detail in the
following chapter, this chapter is intended to provide an insight into
the impressive range of activities that were designed and carried out under
the SOCRATES programme. This will help the reader gain an impression of
the ‘material’ of the analysis and appreciate the findings of the evaluation.
The quotations in this chapter and the following are taken, if not stated
otherwise, from the relevant project case studies.
This chapter deals with the outcomes of the projects inasmuch as they
belong to the product-oriented categories of demand, supply, support and
accreditation. The projects have helped in various ways to initiate and promote developments in these sectors of adult education, to provide stimuli
through new international collaborative links, and to encourage investment. The sheer number of the projects and institutions involved indicates
that European adult education not only represents a wide field in terms of
both quality and quantity, but a highly dynamic one as well.
The outcomes of the projects make it clear that transnational co-operation
may also stimulate and improve work at national level. This means creating real European awareness: awareness of the fact that European cooperation has also been of value for activities at the national level. The exchange of “good practice” represents another example of mutual benefit:
those responsible for adult education may learn from examples of good
practice in other states, even if these examples, for one reason or the other,
are then not directly adapted.
In presenting the outcomes of the projects we will concentrate on those
which played a particularly striking or important role, in our view, in one
of the fields mentioned above (demand, supply, support and accreditation).
This may turn out to be unfair as regards supply and support, since
numerous projects achieved good results in these sectors. The main
concern was, however, to provide representative examples of good practice and good results in order to show the direction in which European adult
education is developing, is able to develop and should develop.
15
a) Demand
The provision of education and training for adults has not been demandled but has usually been offered to learners on the providers’ terms, in their
time and place and under their accreditation rules. Educational institutions
have had a monopoly of supply, backed up by control over admissions and
funding arrangements, and often by professional control of standards and
of the labour market. While this may have been acceptable when postschool education was the preserve of a small, young elite, it is not acceptable as we move towards lifelong learning, with large numbers coming in
and out of education and training throughout their lives, and with the state,
the individual and their families as well as employers all taking a share of
financial responsibility for it.
Most adults study part-time, often paying for themselves, and increasingly
making their own choices of when, where and how to learn. It is the increase
in individual choice, combined with new opportunities, often provided
through new technologies, which makes it necessary for providers to focus
firmly on the nature of demand. At the same time, it is notoriously difficult
to research and predict demand, though market research and needs analysis
improve on guess-work. The typical economic market-place assumption
that demand creates supply does not work well in education. The market is
by no means a perfect one, with limited knowledge and with financial
barriers to access for many of those in greatest need of education.
There are important instances where the supply has had to be made available before people could be encouraged to exercise individual demand.
Those who have already had further education and good educational
experiences are in a better position to know what they want and to demand
it, compared to the educationally disadvantaged or socially excluded, many
of whom do not yet know what they might want or if it might be available.
The distinction between such latent demand and needs which should be
encouraged, and manifest or active demand which is easier to see and
encourage, is a fundamental one for educators and policy-makers.
Demand itself is encouraged or discouraged by a composite set of factors,
social, economic, educational and personal. For example, there is research
evidence which shows that people are less likely to engage in vocational
studies if they cannot see any likely work resulting from them. Research
work has proved that problems of realisation of individual demand are
mainly caused by:
– the lack of time for participation;
– the travelling distance to cultural and educational institutions;
– the lack of money needed for participation;
– the difference between personal interests and supply;
16
– the difficulty felt by many people in expressing themselves in writing;
and finally
– the lack of information and counselling.
In this section we are not considering the role of such macro factors, nor
has there been any investigation of demand as part of the Adult Education
Action, but we have been considering the development of individual
demand and actions which can encourage it. This involves the development of personal initiative and responsibility on the part of adult learners,
in terms of choosing and shaping the educational pathways best suited to
their individual needs. It also assumes that provision will become more
flexible, a question considered in the next section of this chapter.
Key components include raising awareness and motivation, providing
information, advice and guidance, offering clear progression routes –
including opportunities for self-assessment – and options for informal and
self-directed studies. Matching actions are required to reduce barriers to
learning relating to access, finance, educational qualifications, and flexibility of time and place. Particular priorities are to reach specific groups of
people facing educational disadvantage and social exclusion, and to
improve their participation. Examples are migrant workers, ethnic minority groups, rural populations and people with special needs.
European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), built on the success of a similar
UK initiative, was based on the belief that adult demand for and participation in learning is too low and that it should be possible to raise motivation
and increase demand nationally through better information, guidance and
support, using the mass media and a variety of other communication techniques: TV and radio programmes, telephone helplines, exhibitions, press
articles, meetings and seminars, lobbying of politicians, and national and
regional learning awards.
The campaign brings together providers, local and national agencies, and
broadcasters, in order to provide a framework of national publicity and
activity, under whose enabling “umbrella” local and regional groups can
work and gain additional impact, and develop wide-ranging local activities to meet particular needs and interests. The aim of the project is to
develop a transferable concept of such a framework which would allow
for and encourage adaptation, and to “promote the exchange of experience, innovation and good practice ... working towards establishing a type
of motivational strategy within each of the partners’ countries... examining
different models of such strategies and their potential transferability to different cultural contexts.” It both increases the political visibility of adult
and lifelong learning, and encourages more individual demand, participation and opportunity.
The Week has been studied by a number of partner countries, including
17
Belgium, France, Germany and Norway, with Switzerland and Hungary as
silent partners. Finland and Germany had Weeks in 1998, Switzerland had
one in 1996. Weeks have also been run in countries outside Europe, and
the proposal was accepted at the UNESCO 1997 Conference in Hamburg
to establish a UN World Week of Adult Learning.
Raising awareness and increasing demand and participation are key issues
in many countries in Europe, and interest in the project and its effectiveness has been high, particularly in relation to strategies involving harnessing the power of the media and collaboration with many partners. The
combination of the stimulus to the population as a whole, which reaches
the less advantaged in large numbers, and the possibility of individual
response through easily available telephone helplines, is particularly valuable.
The role of cultural and community resources and information-providers
in encouraging awareness and motivation and offering a point of entry to
learning is a vital complement to more formal provision. Unlike younger
learners, whose information mainly comes through school and parents,
adults gain knowledge of opportunities, and are stimulated to learn in more
diverse ways and through a wider range of social and cultural milieux:
through libraries, through the arts, through communities and voluntary
organisations and, of course, through the workplace. Such sources become
even more important for older learners and there are encouraging projects
in the Adult Education Action which demonstrate the importance of such
resources, particularly for individual growth and self-development.
Perhaps the most significant set of project experiences in this category
emerged from a cluster which could be grouped together under the content
area of culture and the arts: e.g. The Centres of Light and Learning Project,
no. 73; Linking Adult Education With Open Culture and Museum, no. 19;
and Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura,
no. 76. In many communities there is a rich vein of cultural resources available through the arts and libraries. It was suggested that these resources
could be harnessed to the task of serving education and increasing demand
for it, providing ways could be found of developing more open approaches to the public and of making links with adult learning. The notion underlying this work is that just as education has been the preserve of the elite,
so libraries and museums have rationed their availability to particular types
of people. Work should therefore be initiated to develop and open up these
resources and encourage people to increase their personal demand. Libraries and museums need to review and renew their infrastructures and build
services which are designed to reach individuals. Examples of these ideas
are projects using libraries and museums to encourage reading and to offer
cultural and other learning opportunities.
18
Some projects had a double objective and could be included in the group
of projects designed to raise demand as well as in the group designed to
encourage more flexible supply. An example of this is the Danish-led
project Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (no. 26) in which a
potential learner might visit a one-stop shop which could offer the whole
process of information, advice and guidance and could arrange an appropriate learning plan through a provider in one operation, thus reducing the
number of barriers and difficulties faced by a learner. Similarly, the AESAL
project (Access to European Studies for Adult Learners, no. 58; see also the
case study in the Appendix) combined the goal of developing access to
higher education with attempts to develop more outcome-based and
quality-controlled assessment, which should assist the development of progression routes and accreditation structures.
Similarly, the BISE project (Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale
dans le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes, no. 45; see also the 20-liner
in the Appendix) offered materials to learners to assist in their self-assessment, and had a longer-term goal of transferable accreditation in the form
of a smartcard offering financial credits for learning as well as providing a
record of credits for learning achieved.
It is important to record that despite the obvious importance of increasing
demand and participation, few projects focused in the first two years of the
SOCRATES programme on these areas, which will clearly justify more
attention in the future. It is particularly necessary to raise motivation and
awareness among the socially excluded and educationally disadvantaged,
and to continue work on removing barriers to their access, including the
development of new forms of funding. Reaching priority target groups such
as ethnic minorities, the disabled, migrant workers and those in rural communities will continue to require specific attention and the development
of appropriate means of communication and provision.
b) Supply
More than half of the total number of the SOCRATES projects evaluated
came under this heading. This section presents successful project outcomes
and the overall effect of the programme in relation to supply, as well as the
importance of the results for improving adult education at a European level.
A considerable number of the projects have contributed to rejuvenation of
the adult education sector across Europe, by promoting better mutual
knowledge and increased synergy among all the bodies involved.
This result can be specified in relation to a number of indicators. We have
chosen to look at the innovative character of the projects in: facilitating
19
access to adult education provision; achieving a greater differentiation of
the types of adult education opportunities; designing models that can be
adapted elsewhere; developing new teaching methodologies; building cooperation between educational, cultural and social organisations; and
developing methods of providing a second chance.
Access to adult education provision
Many adults do not have adequate access to adult education because of a
lack of provision or barriers to learning. This applies to many of the unemployed, to the disabled, to low-skilled workers, migrant women, women
in general and many more groups.
Some of the projects responded to these societal problems. The Golden
Rule project (no. 93) is one example in which theatre groups composed of
young people from England, Spain and Sweden acted out scenes of European unification and discussed them with more than 10,000 participants
and spectators altogether, thus involving a high number of people in a
learning process leading to European understanding and deepened European democracy. The project Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults
Through Expressive Arts (no. 54) gave the disabled access to education
through international exchange in the form of a one-week course at an arts
festival, and the project A European Adult Education Programme for Trade
Unions (no. 51), an innovative programme designed for low-skilled and
low-paid trade union members facing major changes at work, created open
and distance learning modules in co-operation with universities.
Also worthy of mention is The Aurora Project (no. 95), which enabled many
women to overcome their fear of information technology by teaching them
how to use the Internet and publishing more than 200 of their articles on
the Internet. By establishing an ‘educational supermarket’ with easy physical access from the street, a large front window and an exhibition of
attractive educational offers, the project Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong
Learning (no. 26) created a familiar environment and facilitated access to
learning opportunities. The provision of tailor-made educational programmes, including funding opportunities, made it very easy for the
customer to “shop“. And the ADEPT project (Adult Education in European
Perspective for Target groups, no. 85), which combined needlework with a
language course, showed an ideal way of integrating language and joboriented training programmes for migrant women.
Those projects that gave special attention to access opportunities for people
who had so far not taken part in adult education, had to deal particularly
with questions of demand. Developing educational provision appropriate
to people’s needs obviously presupposes an analysis of those needs. The
projects found many and varied innovative ways of identifying such needs
20
and transforming them into educational strategies, never losing sight of the
fact that at the heart of the project were always “real” human beings. It is
one of the projects’ achievements that they succeeded in this by means of
transnational discussions and in a transparent manner.
Achieving a greater differentiation of the types of adult education
opportunities
A further barrier to fulfilling learning needs is the limiting standard type of
educational package that is generally on offer. What is being sought by
learners may range from maybe just one single educational element to a
much more specialised module. Providers, however, are often unable to
meet these individual learning needs.
The project with the most promising answer to this problem was Learning
Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (no. 26). Learning boutiques specialise
in tailoring modules for the individual needs of the learner based on counselling. By combining the different tutorial elements on offer by the various
local educational providers and commercial enterprises, a whole variety
of new ways to create individual educational packages was achieved.
Providing a more variable range of offers in this way is a unique contribution towards solving the problem of the narrow spectrum that limits adult
education provision
All in all, the number of projects concerned with such issues that actually
obtained funding was too small – at least during the first phase of the
SOCRATES Adult Education Action. This was due to the fact that too few
applications were received. It will be a major task of educational policy to
motivate institutions and individuals to run follow-up projects and to
exchange positive experiences in this field.
Models for adaptation
Many areas of adult learning lack suitable models that can be adapted with
good results. Some parts of Europe have developed models that can be used
by others, even though the models will always change when implemented
in other cultural and social contexts. There is a general need for a stimulating learning environment in Europe, and there is a need for more knowledge about how adults learn. There is also a great need to strengthen active
citizenship and democratic experiences in Europe.
The Austrian-led project Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines
Feministischen Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle (no. 01) developed
modules for a European basic feminist course at the end of which a
European Certificate could be obtained. The Nordic Dimension in the
European Reality (no. 97) introduced the Nordic study circle to eight other
European countries, and the 31 participants wrote diaries containing anal21
yses of the outcomes for possible use in the home environment. The study
circle is a unique model of general value for the whole of Europe in various contexts. It combines a pedagogical method with creating self-confidence and is useful for civic as well as for formal education.
As we will see in more detail in the section on Transferability (Chapter III f),
there are various possibilities – and related problems – of adapting or transferring models. The opportunities offered by the transfer of models have so
far by no means been sufficiently identified or developed. It appears necessary to promote and support new projects dedicated especially to issues
relating to the transfer of existing models, because such transfers require the
development of special procedures, with implications for educational
policy. It appears equally necessary to evaluate the outcomes of similar
transfers.
Development of new teaching methodologies
A large number of adults are not motivated to start learning again because
of negative experience with teaching methods at school. In view of this, a
number of projects succeeded in establishing a common understanding on
new teaching methods.
Adult Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57) set out
to deliver adult education provision at the workplace and involved employers and unions in the delivery. Simulab, WWW-Simulations in Adult
Education (no. 91) created pedagogically structured problem-solving
simulations and role-plays on the WWW for use in language courses in
adult education. The project Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults
Through Expressive Arts (no. 54) also provided a new method of involving
participants in learning processes through arts festivals, and The Golden
Rule (no. 93) involved thousands of participants in a discussion on the
future of Europe. The Aurora Project (no. 95), like Simulab, used the Internet to motivate a special target group.
It would be easy to provide further examples of newly developed learning
methods. The SOCRATES adult education projects reveal a particularly
wide variety and creativity in the field of teaching and organisation of learning. It would be highly useful to carry out a secondary analysis of projects
with regard to teaching and learning methods in order to provide an overview of the state of the art, and of current European standards in adult teaching and learning.
Co-operation between educational, cultural and social organisations
New learning needs demand cross-sectoral and trans-disciplinary curricula. Co-operation between different educational institutions can provide
a framework that can better respond to these new learning demands.
22
INTERLAB 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la formazione
del cittadino europeo (no. 75) focused on illiteracy and aimed to exploit
the cultural and environmental heritage in teaching material; A European
Adult Education Programme for Trade Unions (no. 51) established cooperation between trade unions and universities; and The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality (no. 97) brought residential folk high schools
into contact with a wide range of other institutions.
Of particular importance is the co-operation between the adult education
sector and museums and libraries , as can be seen in the project Linking
Adult Education With Open Culture and Museum (no. 19) and the two
projects aimed at exploiting the library for adult education purposes (The
Centres of Light and Learning, no. 73; and Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura, no. 76). These projects revealed the
closeness of adult education to cultural institutions, and showed that there
are notably increased opportunities for people to find a pathway to education via cultural provision or through their own cultural interests. The future
of adult education depends on the co-operation between a variety of different institutions which, it is true, already exists, but is largely unknown.
Co-operation between adult education institutions needs therefore to be
promoted at both national level and transnational level in future. It should
bring together a broad spectrum of persons and institutions – united by
common purposes and objectives – from various countries.
Methods of providing a second chance
Many adults do not get a second educational chance. Two projects worked
with models providing that second chance: Adult Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57), and the European Adult Education
Programme for Trade Unions (no. 51).
The number of projects concerned with providing a second chance for
adults to learn was very small. Given the significance of this issue and the
related issue of social exclusion which these projects were trying to combat, it is highly desirable that more projects – or parts of projects – should
be supported in this field. Especially as regards accreditation and certification at international level, the development of a “second chance” system
would give fresh impetus to educational policy.
Projects with specific contents
In accordance with the SOCRATES programme, many projects included
European citizenship among the main issues to be dealt with. Examples are
The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality (no. 97), The Golden Rule
(no. 93), and the projects – belonging to the first “wave” of the Adult
Education Action – that were explicitly aimed at furthering the develop23
ment of a European citizenship: Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes
Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43) and Des Citoyennetés des Européens à la
Citoyenneté Européenne (no. 46). Many other projects were at least in part
concerned with European citizenship, e.g. Supporting European Citizenship and the European Dimension in Instruction through Publications and
Teaching Materials by Editors of Adult Education Publications in Europe
(no. 41), and the projects concerned with environmental issues.
Concern for the environment represents another main project topic. This
applies not only to the projects European Adult Education – Responsibility
for Our Environment (no. 16) and European Environmental Action (no. 69)
but also – happily – to numerous other projects that picked out environmental issues as a central theme.
Lastly, a considerable number of projects concentrated on specific target
groups in order to enhance their participation in adult education and
to improve their living conditions through educational provision. Such
projects include Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines Feministischen Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle, (no. 01), Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults Through Expressive Arts (no. 54), and Adult
Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57), which was
aimed at workers.
The educational policy of the European Commission, which is reflected in
the SOCRATES Guidelines, proved particularly effective with regard to
contents and target groups, so as to introduce new transnational trends in
adult education. However, the quality of the contents and the identity of
the target groups varied in the different European regions. It will be an
important task for the national agencies to discuss and recommend, in cooperation with the European Commission, a common framework of central
contents and target groups.
c) Accreditation and Certification
Terms such as “knowledge society”, “internationalisation” and “merger” of
large-scale enterprises refer to a changing economic situation in the labour
market. Industry and business as well as adult education are obliged to
consider the individual human being as the starting point for any further
considerations. Key qualifications, personal competencies, learning to
learn, computer literacy and communication skills are becoming the new
social catchwords. In the context of lifelong learning the emphasis is again
on autonomous learning. Experiences gathered outside the world of work
are assuming a higher status in the leisure society. The notion of “occupation” is increasingly losing its significance, whereas the concept of
24
“competencies” is coming to the fore. From the point of view of adult education, the question arises of how experiences, achievements in courses
and learning in the workplace can be validated and accredited. How is it
possible to avail oneself of the experiences one has had as the chairperson
of an organisation, as a mother, as a local politician, etc., in job applications? This is just one example of current concerns.
This section focuses on project results that include accreditation or certification schemes. The aim of accreditation is to promote mobility between
general and vocational, formal and non-formal education, as well as
between adult education and work.
Documenting personal competencies
The best-known terms in this context are “assessment” and “portfolio”.
Assessment denotes a procedure for testing a person’s competencies by
means of a series of complex tasks. A number of persons observe the candidate’s behaviour and put together their individual impressions at the end.
Such assessments are employed as aptitude and admission tests for vocational training, as measures of learning success in final examinations, for
the training of social competencies and for needs analyses, that is to say as
supportive measures for training programmes.
The concept of portfolio comes from the French Canadian area. It means a
portfolio of both learning and skills. It is intended to document and highlight competencies that have been gained outside school. This North American tradition has been continued since the Second World War, when it
was first used in an attempt to transfer competencies gained during the war
to the civilian labour market. Having passed from war-related issues to the
recognition of women’s labour and thus to the problem of integration into
the labour market, the portfolio, in the sense of a portfolio of skills, is currently enjoying a renaissance, as it enables the documentation of life experience, which is otherwise not recognised by institutions, and makes it
possible to carry out comparative assessment to establish equivalencies.
In many cases the portfolio is connected to a modularised continuing education programme.
Whereas assessment methods are generally determined by others, the
portfolio method is used more for self-evaluation. While assessment is
particularly widespread in industrial enterprises, business and commerce,
the portfolio is employed in adult education for position-finding and
reflection. Experience has shown that both are interdependent. The
portfolio is used for self-evaluation and the integration of prior learning
experience, and accreditation is then based on assessment of the portfolio. The BISE project Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans
le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes (no. 45) concentrated on posi25
tion-finding. Accreditation in the real sense was rejected by those responsible for the project who gave priority to process-based, reflective
procedures. Reflection and self-evaluation are guided, step by step, by a
CD-ROM. The results are recorded on a floppy disk. The starting point
for reflection is the question “who am I?”. Relevant data and experiences
are recorded. Future planning is then prepared by the next step, “where
am I going?”. Thus people are made aware of their own abilities and
competencies, and it becomes possible to validate prior experience at a
later stage. Modularised further and continuing training programmes may
be developed on the basis of such evaluations. The BISE project (no. 45)
took the view that every human being has the right to further and continuing education. This form of self-evaluation is meant to motivate those
who had not yet participated in further education, by means of demonstrating that they actually have learned something in spite of this, and are
capable of something.
The project AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners (no. 58)
developed self-assessment tests, recorded on floppy disk, in the context of
various European studies. The project AURORA (no. 95) promoted reflection, related to languages and the new technologies, in women. Another
example is the ADEPT project (Adult Education in European Perspective
for Target groups, no. 85), aimed at migrant women: building on their
acquired competencies and with the aid of a module-based system, the
project brought these women closer to the new culture, at the same time
as further enhancing their competencies.
Recognition and validation of personal competencies
The above mentioned examples were largely developed in public adult
education and have a wide application. They are often used in courses for
unemployed people. However, this causes various problems as regards
integration into working life. The competencies and qualifications gained
are not sufficiently clearly defined. It is not possible to make them visible
or demonstrate them to potential employers. Millions of EU citizens attend
several millions of courses each year. Research has shown that about 50%
of all learning activities are performed in a non-organised way. During this
time, equally important competencies are gained. Learning opportunities
include unpaid work, family work, travelling, work in politics, cultural
work, communicating in foreign languages, everyday experience in the
workplace, etc. Each individual must first, by means of position-finding,
realise that certain new skills and competencies have been acquired. In a
second step, these are to be documented publicly.
The best known accreditation system is certainly the English “National
Vocational Qualifications” (NVQs) for the certification of skills and com26
petencies. It is a system that may be yet further developed. Many projects
dealing with questions of accreditation take this system as a starting point.
The APEL project (Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning, no. 05) put
together various forms and tools of evaluation (self-evaluation and evaluation by others) and accreditation, and sought, in the second stage, to
develop a European system for certification or accreditation. What remains
to be done is to investigate and provide funding opportunities for individuals (grants, educational vouchers, deductions from taxes, further education funds). Between 1995 and 1997, the period covered by our study, there
were basically no projects in the Adult Education Action that concentrated
on funding issues.
The AESAL project (Access to European Studies for Adult Learners, no. 58)
sought to develop an overall European system on the basis of NVQs. However, owing to lack of time, this phase could not be brought to completion.
The project Adult Literacy and Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57)
also referred to the NVQ system. It set out to develop several stages of
literacy training and to propose relevant accreditation models within the
framework of NVQs. The project “Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes
Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43) of the Fondation Mitterand referred to selfevaluation of attitudes towards different cultures in an attempt at transEuropean comparison by means of a “racism marking scheme”. Moreover,
the Nordic countries are currently attempting to combine formal and nonformal systems. To this end, a system is currently being developed to match
parallel competencies of adults with the aim of enabling accreditation without formal examinations.
The traditional system of university degrees must not be forgotten, as well
as examination systems providing access to university studies. There is still
a clear distinction to be made between vocationally oriented systems (e.g.
NVQs) and systems prevailing within university and technical college
education. The intended outcome of the project Institut zum Aufbau und
zur Etablierung eines Feministischen Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle,
(no. 01), which conducted research into feminism, is a European certificate following the model of university diplomas.
Further remarks on accreditation
Access: There were calls from most SOCRATES projects in the field of adult
education for access opportunities that would open further and continuing
education to everybody. To this end, a network of qualifications and competencies is being developed which repeatedly refers to the concept of
module-based continuing education. Within the framework of a modular
system, the various competencies are intended to follow one another.
While a number of projects were concerned with developing modular sys27
tems, there was, regrettably, no project that dealt with general questions
concerning modular systems.
Instruments for Documenting Accreditation: The projects Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43) and Banque de
Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E. (no. 45) identified instruments for documenting competencies.
BISE foresaw a smartcard, carrying the usual personal data as well as information on qualifications and accreditations (CHIP card). The project aiming at “tolerant European citizens” (no. 43) developed an education passport.
Train the Trainers: The APEL project Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (no. 05) is the only one which provided for an exchange of experience
with accreditation between experts. There were no projects on the themes
of assessor training, monitoring in self-evaluation programmes, or development of systems and standards.
Links between Theory and Practice: Many projects complained about the
lack of a glossary. Terms such as “knowledge”, “competencies”, “skills” and
“know-how” are often used in different ways, according to culture; and this,
in turn, leads to different systems of accreditation.
Sociological Level: Employers and employees, learners and providers are
equally interested in transparent modularised systems for further and continuing education as well as for accreditation. In this respect, the APEL
project (no. 05) is certain to produce further information and to update the
results on the Internet.
Future Projects in the Field of Accreditation: As opposed to the SOCRATES Adult Education Action, which between 1995 and 1997 comprised
very few projects in the field of accreditation, the vocation-oriented
LEONARDO DA VINCI programme, together with other initiatives in the
field of education (Automated Assessment Tests of knowledge and competencies) included more than 30 projects of this kind. These projects were –
and still are – aimed at various target groups and various vocational sectors.
They refer to different types of competencies, analyse various fields of training, and evaluate various forms of assessment. They include projects working on a common framework and projects working on the transparency of
qualification systems, and are attempting to create European standards. The
LEONARDO DA VINCI programme also includes several projects which
develop and test Euroqualification books, CHIP cards, education passports
etc. We therefore suggest that all the above mentioned projects and the
SOCRATES adult education projects in the field of accreditation should be
brought together. They should at least be submitted to a common evaluation in order to gain a comprehensive overview of the field of accreditation.
28
The small number of SOCRATES projects in the field of accreditation shows
that there is still insufficient awareness of this field, as there were very few
applications concerned with it. Perhaps reality lags behind political postulates in this case. The White Paper on Education and Training, Teaching
and Learning. Towards the Learning Society, repeatedly stresses the importance of a common reference and accreditation framework. This represents
a real change in paradigms inasmuch as diplomas and examinations are
no longer recognised as being the only possible accreditation system. Qualifications, competencies and experiences gained outside the working place
can now be validated just as well. Enhanced mobility in business and commerce will lead to a development of common portfolio and assessment
procedures. Future projects might deal with the following issues:
– linking of self-evaluation and evaluation by others;
– assessment procedures compared with portfolio procedures;
– linking of formal and non-formal systems;
– reflections on various stages of learning and accreditation;
– means of validating millions of courses and linking them to a modularised-based system of further and continuing education;
– teacher training in the field of accreditation, and training of assessors;
– transparency in education for the social partners, employers, employees, providers and learners;
– comparison of different national systems, and definition of a European
credit system;
– development of various instruments for identifying and documenting
skills such as qualification books, CHIP cards, guided self-evaluation via
the computer, etc.;
– development of theoretical reflections and comparison of different
theoretical frameworks in various countries; and
– contact seminars for practitioners and theorists in order to develop a
common language.
Much remains to be done in the field of accreditation, which is no doubt
one of the sectors that will need more support and development work in
future.
d) Support
Adult education and adult learning, as they grow and expand and assume
greater importance, need to be supported in a systematic way. The organisation of training provision and course and curriculum planning, require
concepts and data which can be drawn upon. Needs analysis with addressees requires appropriate and proven tools and proficiency in using them.
29
The implementation of educational concepts in structured training programmes requires competent educational staff. The devising of training
institutions and further development of educational theories presuppose an
“academic community” processing practical progress and research findings
within a balanced system. Learning and teaching methods call for working
procedures that not only promise positive learning effects but actually
prompt them. Such procedures must still be developed and tested.
The general need for support of further and continuing education through
conceptual development, counselling, information and continuing training
is not limited to the national level but prevails increasingly at international
level as well. The continually growing need for a support infrastructure at
European level has become more and more obvious in recent years and was
also reflected in the SOCRATES Adult Education projects.
From the very beginning, a number of SOCRATES projects have aimed at
creating support functions and initial successful approaches have been
developed. Experience with the creation of international support structures
has thus become available.
Because governments and public institutions concentrate on the central
“operating mechanism” of adult education, and because financial participation by the private sector is growing, the call for support structures – and
therefore, for a necessary minimum of governmental influence – is becoming ever more urgent, in the interest of both Member States and the EU as a
whole.
Those projects which are engaged in support and services are therefore likely to be the basis of future government participation in adult education.
One important task of European educational policy is to co-ordinate the
national systems of support and services, to focus on the common, necessary fields of activities and to improve quality. This applies mainly to the
following fields: information systems, training the trainers, publications,
advice and counselling, and research and evaluation.
Information systems
There is a national and European demand for a system of information storage and transfer as a basis for the pedagogical and political work in adult
education. For this purpose there is a need for databases which compile,
select, guarantee and make available the necessary information. The problems posed by the existence of different information systems in the various
Member States, by the different ways in which these are used, by different
concepts, criteria, terminology and vocabulary, and by the difficulties of
networking, have to be handled one by one. A European adult education
policy is only possible through a systematic development of information
systems.
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Some SOCRATES projects concentrated on developing information systems, e.g. ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe (no. 07, see also the case study in the Appendix). ALICE was successful in providing sound and comprehensive basic information on
non-formal adult education in European countries, ensuring not only compatibility between the data from different countries but also durable access
and updating. It will form the basis for further work as well as providing a
model for future databases in other educational fields, teaching us something about the problems and their possible solutions as well as the
usefulness of information systems. It is true that access figures have been
rather low up to now (which is normal with products that have been
developed with a long-term perspective), but nevertheless ALICE represents
a fundamental basis for future European co-operation.
A further outstanding example of a support structure aiming at European
co-operation is the project Multi-lingual Data-base of Adult Education Terminology (no. 98), which succeeded in bringing together researchers and
practitioners from different EU countries for an exchange of basic terminology applied in the field of adult education in various languages. This
resulted in the creation of a terminological database which is sure to
become vital to future co-operation across language barriers in Europe. The
result of the project is available in printed form and on CD-ROM, and may
be accessed on the Internet. This will enable greater precision in dealing
with practical, political and academic issues related to adult education and
adult learning in different languages.
Information systems of this kind can also provide important support structures at a national level. The project INTERLAB 2 La didattica dei beni
ambientali e culturali per la formazione del cittadino europeo (no 75), for
example, succeeded in setting up a new structure of co-operation between
universities, local governments and cultural institutions. This structure
assumes both direct co-operation and the creation of a database as a solid
foundation for co-operative structures of this new type.
Altogether, the SOCRATES adult education projects have clearly shown the
significance and usefulness of information systems in the process of supporting and further developing continuing education. Moreover, they have
revealed how much work still needs to be done to extend these information
systems, ensure their continuous updating and improve access opportunities.
Training the trainers
The training of teachers to a sufficiently high level is essential to maintaining and enhancing the quality and efficiency of adult education in Europe.
For this purpose a system is needed which determines, standardises and
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harmonises the level of teachers’ and trainers’ qualifications and skills, and
which develops a joint system of continuing training. The training of teachers and trainers must contain subject-related elements as well as those
relating to teaching methodology and the economy. Furthermore, the
objective should be to achieve a modularised accreditation system for
teachers and trainers on a European basis. The training of trainers and
teachers can only be carried through with the help of suitable modules.
These modules must be standardised in their subjects and topics and must
be integrated into a sensible system.
Significant developments in teacher training have been brought about in
the context of numerous SOCRATES projects on adult education, including those whose main objectives were aimed at different achievements. The
project Training of Volunteers in Adult Education (no. 87) made considerable progress in reaching the problematic group of unpaid teachers and
those teaching as a sideline. The results of the project are still little known,
which means that its effects depend on further development of the information support structures. The training of trainers also plays a major role
in the projects Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults Through Expressive Arts (no. 54), AURORA (no. 95) and Observatoire: Etude de faisabilité
pour la constitution d’un réseau transnational européen spécialisé en
matière des adultes en milieu rural (no. 08), each of them including the
organisation of teacher training as well as separate reflection on it in what
might be called a “subsidiary project”. Especially notable in these projects
is the use of the Internet in the continuing training of teachers.
The approach to continuing training adopted by the project Older Adults
as helpers in learning processes (no. 37) deserves special attention. This
project succeeded in training older adults by means of guided self-qualification, leading a large group of them into teaching activities as unpaid or
part-time teachers in adult education. This model shows one way of dealing with future educational needs through a combination of self-organised
learning and education provision for an extended group of people.
Publications
Appropriate publications are an important part of national and European
support structures. They represent an active complement to passive databases, which supply information on access. Publications raise topics, initiate innovations and guarantee targeted discourse. “Publications” means not
only print media but also electronic media and – the nowadays absolutely
essential – use of the Internet. It is necessary to link European publications,
to distribute knowledge and awareness of national publications, and to
develop a structure of publications on educational policy and practice at a
European level.
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Nearly all SOCRATES projects produced their results in the form of publications – manuals, CD-ROMs or, more recently, information packages on
the Internet. In this context, however, by publication we understand those
types of publications that facilitate durable support structures for adult
education. It is these that the projects Supporting European Citizenship and
the European Dimension in Instruction through Publications and Teaching
Materials by Editors of Adult Education Publications in Europe (no. 41) and
Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly ‘Lifelong Learning in Europe’
(no. 42) sought to provide. The former succeeded in building a network
for editors specialising in publications on adult education in Europe in
order to deal with common problems, organise exchange of information
and agree on forms of future co-operation. The latter produced a quarterly
magazine reporting continuously on issues related to European adult education, encouraging and recording critical debates and providing a forum
for good practice and critical reflection. As the Finnish government has
undertaken to pay the subsequent costs of the magazine, there are good
chances that this support structure, which is vital at European level, will
be continued. The project will thus have fulfilled its mission to initiate a
development, to undertake the initial investment and to produce a lasting
contribution to support.
Judged by the needs of a European publication structure, however, too little
has been done up to now. What is needed is publishing services and bodies
to provide for information networks.
Advice and counselling
Counselling systems are becoming more and more important in the field
of adult education. These systems apply not only to the counselling of learners during their initial access to educational provision and during their
learning, but also to the counselling of organisations in adult education and
the counselling of teachers and trainers. It will be necessary to discuss, formulate and standardise structures and principles of counselling at a European level.
Some SOCRATES projects developed counselling plans and materials. Foremost among these are European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59) and
Méthodes et Techniques de Gestion des Projets Transnationaux pour
l’Education des Adultes (no. 86). The former developed a manual giving
advice on the organisation of Adult Learners’ Weeks (or Days) in different
European countries under headings such as co-operation, funding, planning, etc. Together with direct advice (which has still to be guaranteed for
the future), this manual represents a solid foundation for the development
of adult education days, even in regions which so far had not given any
consideration to this. The consideration that adult education still lacks ex33
perience with the planning, running, management and conclusion of
international seminars gave birth to the second project. The result of the
project was a guide to the good management of international projects,
which is an important basis for future co-operation at European level.
The results available show that some important counselling activities have
already been developed and tried out. It is true, though, that the field of
advice and counselling is still in need of extensive development work.
Research and evaluation
The field of research and evaluation has been handled rather poorly to date.
But such research is essential if the results which have already been
achieved (especially through evaluation) are not to be forgotten and mistakes are not to be repeated. It is also essential for the discovery of problems with development, the identification of possible solutions and the use
of new potentials. Research which focuses on development is of especial
importance to adult education, because it concentrates less on the acquisition of knowledge itself than on the development of new approaches and
models.
It is evident that research and evaluation so far have had too small a part in
SOCRATES projects on adult education. Some projects, e.g. ALICE –
Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe (no. 07)
and Méthodes et Techniques de Gestion des Projets Transnationaux pour
l’Education des Adultes (no. 86), did conduct surveys in preparation for
their respective products. These surveys, however, referred exclusively to
the specific aims of the projects. Mention must here be made of the monitoring seminars, organised by the European Commission for the SOCRATES project co-ordinators. These seminars not only promoted international
exchange and the awareness of common objectives within the framework
of the programme, but also dealt with various aspects of evaluation as well.
Generally speaking, however, socially structured and co-operative evaluation by means of monitoring procedures will need further development.
Research and development will be the main topics of adult education
development in the future, and only research and development can provide the necessary basis for the counselling and advising of institutions and
individuals.
The only one of the SOCRATES projects that concentrated mainly on evaluation and research is MOPED, whose findings are recorded here. MOPED
(Monitoring of Projects – Evaluation as Dialogue) aimed at a dialoguebased, structured evaluation of the objectives and activities of the European SOCRATES-funded projects in the field of adult education. It is hoped
that its findings will stimulate and support future research and evaluation
work at a European level.
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III. Evaluation and Analysis
Underlying the SOCRATES Guidelines for Applicants are a number of issues
which were agreed by the experts to provide the analytical criteria for the
evaluation. They include: European Added Value, innovation, networking,
intercultural co-operation, dissemination, transferability, sustainability and
project administration. Under each of these headings, a number of particular questions was dealt with in the evaluation of individual projects in
order to obtain significant results for the overall evaluation of the Adult
Education Action:
European Added Value: To what extent has an added value resulted from
European co-operation in the project (to the topic, national debates etc.)?
To what extent has an issue, notion, idea or structure which goes beyond
national concerns resulted from the project or is expected to result from it?
Innovation: To what extent has the project made use of new approaches in
adult education? Did it provide new opportunities for target groups, teachers and providers? Did these new approaches represent innovation for all
countries involved or did they result from transferring existing models, conceptions etc. from one partner country to another?
Networking: To what extent was the partner organisations’ knowledge and
experience, resources and capabilities made use of? Did the partner organisations form a homogeneous or heterogeneous group (in terms of internal
structure, staff, mode of work, understanding of educational policy etc.)?
Intercultural co-operation: What particular language and cultural barriers
were encountered in the project. How were they handled? Were new glossaries developed to deal with problems of terminology and the definition
of key notions?
Dissemination: What provisions were made in the project for appropriate
dissemination of the products? Were the existing conditions sufficient to
realise these plans? Is it possible to integrate the outcomes of the project
with outcomes of other projects and has this been checked? What knowledge existed in the project about the mode of work and results of neighbouring European projects?
Sustainability: What service did the project provide for European adult
education? Was the service – or was it expected to be – long-lasting? What
are the necessary conditions for a lasting use of the service?
Project Administration: What were the project co-ordinators’ experiences
with issues such as application procedure, time frame admitted, funding
conditions and calculation of costs, reporting and monitoring etc.?
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The following sections relate the results of the analysis of the Adult Education Action according to these criteria of evaluation.
a) European Added Value
The Guidelines focus on the promotion of the European dimension within
general adult education and state that this can be defined by reference to:
– the European content; and
– the transnational degree of co-operation and of the arrangements for
dissemination of project outcomes.
The further definition of what constitutes the European dimension is left
open both to the proposers and to those involved in reviewing the proposals. The belief that value can be added to the action of separate countries
by their acting together in some way is critical to our European partnership, but quite what constitutes “European Added Value” will continue to
exercise our minds and hearts for years to come. For the evaluation, carried out at a relatively early stage in a new Action, it was necessary first to
identify types and levels of activity which could be construed as European,
and to look for their effects. The assumption was that a “European
dimension” is more than mere transferability, a topic which is considered
in more detail in section f, and also more than partnership, which is discussed in sections c and d.
Built into the SOCRATES Guidelines is the requirement for there to be three
partner countries, and in itself this provides for a basic level of transnational
European co-operation. It is clear that the opportunity and challenge of
working with other countries is much appreciated, leads to a better understanding of other countries and for some projects is seen as one of the major
benefits. The BISE project (Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale
dans le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes, no. 45), for example, noted
that the common cultural exchange was much appreciated. Even where
partners were speaking the same basic language, as in the project Quality
Assurance in Adult Education (no. 02), it was noted that there was a “hopeless confusion of terminologies at the beginning” and that international
exchange had made the “whole project more dynamic”.
Simple transfer of projects provides this level of experience, but can also
risk the charge of cultural imperialism, unless carried out with sensitivity
and flexibility. European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), for example, is a
project which began with the idea of “transfer” and has now been adapted
in some countries, though it has not yet developed a European meta-level
of analysis and development.
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Simple but extremely valuable examples of European Added Value are
projects which are building up databases of information on particular topics
across Europe and often associating these with networks of workers in those
fields. ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe (no. 07), for example, was designed to increase transnational
co-operation, exchange information and experience and share good practice, mainly by setting up an appropriate database, in printed form and on
disk. It has also brought together a network of institutions. Such projects
are valuable as they help provide access to information from other countries as well as attempting to provide a common structure for the information.
There is a cluster of modest but effective projects which were designed to
increase the resources and information generally available to people working in the field of adult education across Europe, particularly those who
are themselves the mediators of information. They include the setting up
of a Multi-lingual Data-base of Adult Education Terminology (no. 98), a
training programme for editors of adult education periodicals (Supporting
European Citizenship and the European Dimension in Instruction through
Publications and Teaching Materials by Editors of Adult Education Publications in Europe, no. 41), which encourages them to collaborate, and the
establishment of a quarterly journal Lline (ACE: Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly ‘Lifelong Learning in Europe’, no. 42), together with an
associated network of researchers and practitioners. The longer-term issue
both for projects such as these as well as for the range of Europe-wide
information databases is how they will be maintained and updated after
the initial grouping and project funding have ended.
Second Chance for Disabled Adults – a Second Chance in Adult Education
(no. 89) is unusual in that it is a project which aims to bring together
umbrella bodies for the disabled, including those which are majority-led
by the disabled, with educational institutions at all levels, to provide education to them more effectively, particularly by using “adjusted ODL and
ICT”. While the project is not operating at a European level, the original
idea of a database has been transformed into an on-line operational Internet Web structure, and is attracting the interest of telecoms companies with
the aim of developing a European standard.
For some projects, setting up a transnational or European database and
network is seen as a part of a more ambitious project which requires, ab
initio, the sharing of educational philosophies and the development of
curricula and materials which are “European” in their coverage. The project
Older Adults as helpers in learning processes (no. 37) identified the lack of
data across Europe and attempted to develop a standardised system of
description and to build a common model for its work across Europe.
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A European Adult Education Programme for Trade Unions (no. 51) aims to
bring together universities and trade unions in order to develop an innovative, collective programme across Europe that is designed for trade union
members, particularly low-skilled and low-paid workers who face common
problems of major changes at work. Working teams are in place in seven
countries, with new partnerships between universities and trade unions,
modules have been translated into their own languages, and a variety of
open and distance learning models have been designed.
It is easier to identify the idea of European Added Value in the projects
which aimed from the start to focus on the goal of promoting knowledge
and awareness of Europe, of active citizenship in Europe and of issues
which transcend individual boundaries in Europe. However, it is too early
to judge how far most of them have succeeded in their aims. Examples are
two projects tackling the Europe-wide problem of racism. Learning to Live
in a Multicultural Society (no. 18) has surveyed and identified examples of
good practice in six countries in dealing with the problems of a multicultural society, and has developed a manual to be used by managers and
front-line staff in order to reduce prejudice and discrimination. The manual
has been printed in English, Dutch, French, German and Spanish. It has
been well received, but it is not yet possible to judge its longer-term effect.
Another major project, Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes Tolérants
et Solidaires (no. 43), has involved most of the EU countries in work to
develop the idea of a European Passport against racism, which is meant to
address individuals directly and require their engagement. This is supported by the production of a CD-ROM and a educational package of resource
materials for trainers and a video for use with learners.
Behind the Action as a whole must lie the policy goal of persuading European policy-makers of the increasing importance of adult and lifelong
learning. Such projects as European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), which
makes adult learning a public issue across Europe, Learning Boutiques –
for Lifelong Learning (no. 26), which aims directly to strengthen European
competitiveness, and projects designed to encourage citizens to engage
actively in the democracy of Europe, all play a role in adding value.
There remain three major problems. First, by definition many of these
projects are ambitious, time-consuming and expensive, and the length of
time to develop projects with complex outcomes is very short. Related to
this is the issue of the future availability of funding to sustain projects which
then become, effectively, European in their reach and function. Finally,
probably only a long-term evaluation can reveal such a broad effect as that
of “European Added Value”.
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b) Innovation
The SOCRATES Guidelines for Applicants 1996 suggested that the projects
should “be designed to promote the exchange of experience, innovation
and good practice with a view to contributing to an improvement in the
quality of adult education in Europe” and they noted that priority would
be given to projects which “are innovative and lend themselves to a transfer of experience”. However, the Guidelines did not further define what
constitutes innovation, nor did they recommend any particular form of provision or delivery process, except for an encouragement to consider a
dimension of open and distance learning where appropriate.
Innovation is in itself a slippery concept. What is innovation in one setting
may be quite conventional in another. Often there are fashions in methods
and techniques, and a previous technique may be rediscovered and relabelled as if it were a new one. The concept is also paradoxical, in the
sense that once a new method has been used, it is no longer innovatory. It
is not, however, necessary to be too theoretical or idealistic about innovation in this text. The conventional diversification matrix for business applies
equally well to education, and it is possible to identify projects which are
trying to reach new learners, or develop new curricula or materials, or to
use new delivery systems or locations, or combinations of these. What is
excluded from most of the projects under study, which would of course be
vital in industry, is an examination of their cost-effectiveness. Innovation is
relative to its circumstances, and it is possible to suggest that innovation
can include the improvement of existing systems.
A number of projects are aimed at specific target groups, mainly those suffering some form of social exclusion, for example people with handicaps or
people in rural areas (Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults Through
Expressive Arts, no. 54 and Observatoire: Etude de faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau transnational européen spécialisé en matière des adultes
en milieu rural, no. 08). Usually the idea is that some form of new technology will assist either in reaching them, or in communicating with other
workers in the same field to share experiences, for example building databases which can be held on-line or on CD-ROM rather than only in print. A
different example is ADEPT: Adult Education in European Perspective for
Target groups (no. 85) in which the project aims to build on the cultural
background of migrant women in needlework, weaving and cookery, and to
link this with language materials which also help with social integration
such as information about job centres and social welfare offices. The project
takes as its starting point and adapts a module of such work already developed in Denmark. Many projects are trying to achieve or use more than one
new objective or method at the same time, e.g. The Aurora Project (no. 95).
39
The use of new technologies features in several projects, though more often
for communication between partners than for actual teaching or learning.
An example where the Internet is used to provide teaching/learning is
Simulab, WWW-Simulations in Adult Education (no. 91) which has created
pedagogically structured problem-solving simulations and role-plays on the
World-Wide-Web for the use of language courses in adult education. The
homepage contains a database of interested users.
A number of projects initially suggested that they would develop a
CD-ROM as the means of providing learning resources. It is likely that some
had underestimated the cost and professional requirements in preparing
materials for a CD-ROM and few such projects have in fact done so, preferring to stay with video or computer disk as more cheaply and easily
usable for larger numbers and more adaptable.
Innovation and experimentation in reaching new learners is of great importance. A number of projects approached this task by seeking to cause
other cultural institutions, notably libraries and museums, to innovate in
the cause of adult learning. Libraries provide an interesting case, since the
argument is made that they themselves have to change to meet new needs
and to reach wider sections of the public. The Centres of Learning and Light
Project (no. 73) chose to use libraries as agents of change by offering access
to cultural events, especially poetry, and encouraging individuals and
families to use libraries.
The public and libraries project (Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la
Diffusione della Lettura, no. 76) goes further in proposing the library as an
educational tool: its main innovation is described as the definition and testing of models for the modification of the traditional rules followed by
libraries in the distribution of information and reading opportunities to different sections of the public. The individual right of reading has not yet
been enforced in any of the European countries and the project argues that
educational and cultural exclusion is a phenomenon existing throughout
Europe. This libraries report also suggests that it is imperative to assert some
basic rights for European citizens to have access to new technologies and
information. The integration of education into cultural systems is argued
to be important for identifying new models to encourage demand. The
project has resulted in a manual for the management of a “public’s library”
and to assist in the provision of “individual training programmes to supply
information and educational tools to facilitate access of the public to the
labour market”.
The innovation in some projects is in the nature of the partnerships. Adult
Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57) focused on
basic skills in the workplace, and the project was committed to involving
social partnerships between employers and unions in its delivery. Europe40
an Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59) is an interesting example of an innovation designed to encourage demand which was developed in one country
and has been transferred to other countries in such a way as to allow for
continuing innovation by new partners. Its key innovation was to bring
together in partnership a wide variety of different groups and players in
society including, especially, broadcasters, in order to make adult learning
a public issue. The project has so far been successful in the first phases of
its innovation and implementation, but has not yet demonstrated innovation at another potential level of European development, which would then
involve European goals going beyond the original idea. However, the fact
that the idea was accepted as successful is shown by the declaration, adopted at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA)
in Hamburg 1997, to hold a UN Adult Learners’ Week.
Another significant project that is designed to reach new learners and
encourage demand is BISE (Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale
dans le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes, no. 45), an unusual project
since it focuses on the individual’s personal experience, his or her knowledge and learning and work experience. Each individual, it argues, gains
certain competencies during his or her lifetime, and the task of the project
is to find ways of assessing and demonstrating these competencies in order
to document them publicly. This is a new area of work for educators, in
which basic research is still rare, as is practical experience. The assessment
and accreditation of prior experience are an important component of modular credit systems, which allow for the re-entry of adults and for retraining for new jobs, both of which are vital for individuals and economies for
the next century. The original self-assessment materials were developed in
the United Kingdom by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and
have been adapted by the project group both in print and CD-ROM in English and French. The key additional innovatory idea would be to link the
self-assessment to a smartcard which could form the basis of an educational
credit card recording both financial and educational personal history,
together with learning credits. Though smartcards for single-purpose
functions already exist, and the idea of learning accounts or entitlements
is gaining ground, the requisite technology for such a complex proposal is
not yet sufficiently advanced and was too expensive for this project. It is
likely to be an idea whose time will come.
Finally, in this section, it is worth noting two projects which are innovatory for the education sector in drawing their ideas from developments in
business. Quality Assurance in Adult Education (no. 02) suggests that adult
residential centres are in competition with hotels and other suppliers and
need to consider their standards of quality. The innovation is to try to
introduce EFQM and ISO practices into educational institutions. A manual
41
on quality management has been prepared to be linked to the training of
auditors.
The second project, Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (no. 26),
again puts together a number of ideas from commerce and industry in order
to provide a tailor-made and convenient service of advice and guidance
and support to individual learners. A “boutique” consists of an educational
shop-front on a shopping street, with staff who are able to offer information, advice and guidance and to help the learner develop an individual
plan for learning. The back room offers a negotiation table for all sorts of
local providers of education and training. The shop sells tailor-made education and training for individuals and enterprises. It uses the whole range
of institutions in constructing module-based education. The project is also
starting to develop its own learning modules for the network.
It can be seen that there are a wide variety of innovatory practices involved
in the projects and many are likely to have an effect on future good practice. It is too soon to know which ones will have a long-term effect. Some
form of follow-up study of longer-term effects would undoubtedly be valuable.
c) Networking
The idea of Europe-wide networking of persons, institutions and structures
in adult education is one of the main aims of the SOCRATES adult education projects. This aim has been made operative in that projects may be
approved only if they involve partners from at least three different countries. According to the SOCRATES Guidelines, partners may include nonprofit-making organisations as well as private or state-run organisations, e.g.
provider institutions, universities, research institutes, cultural institutions,
even publishing houses, media, voluntary associations and existing networks. This open policy allows for a broad range of co-operation and networking.
The way in which partnerships were organised in the projects and the
results that were achieved are therefore important criteria for the evaluation. Besides networks in the stricter sense, the SOCRATES projects have
produced a broad range of various forms of co-operation.
Networks
In comparison with co-operative partnerships, networks are more organised and have a more binding character. In future they may also be more
stable. “Networks” in the context of SOCRATES projects are of two types,
as described below.
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On the one hand, “infrastructural networks” may be found, especially in
the information service sector. They involve a relatively large number of
partners from many countries. Usually they aim at setting up a service for
staff members employed in adult education, politics or administration.
Examples are ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education
and Europe (no. 07, which has built a database on non-formal further and
continuing education), ACE: Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly
‘Lifelong Learning in Europe’, no. 42), which has developed and is running
a European periodical on adult education, and Observatoire: Etude de
faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau transnational européen
spécialisé en matière des adultes en milieu rural (no. 08), which has established networking between individual partners in the rural sector. The distinguishing feature of this type of network is that each partner institution is
obliged to deliver relevant data to a central institution and to adopt the
common framework. Another feature is that the products of these projects
are mainly available on CD-ROM and increasingly on the Internet. Problems that arise are particularly related to the development and applicability
of common frameworks as well as to the differences in background
between the partner institutions, especially in terms of resources. There
have been various answers to the problem of developing and implementing a common framework, regardless of the relevant countries’ different
cultural backgrounds (cf. section f on Transferability). This is still one of the
key problems. Another problem relates to possible ways of maintaining the
existing network, for which high initial investments have had to be made,
and of ensuring the continuity of its work (cf. section g on Sustainability).
By contrast, networks of the second, “professional” type aim to organise
an exchange of special knowledge between particular groups. Examples
include the ADEPT project (Adult Education in European Perspective for
Target groups, no. 85), which has developed teaching modules for the training of migrant women in three countries. Similar in nature are projects such
as Linking Adult Education With Open Culture and Museum (no. 19), in
which specialists in adult education within museums exchange models.
Eleven countries are involved in the project Older Adults as helpers in
learning processes (no. 37), in which experts in everyday learning set up
models and disseminate them across the network. In the project Supporting European Citizenship and the European Dimension in Instruction
through Publications and Teaching Materials by Editors of Adult Education
Publications in Europe (no. 41), publishers and editors of national specialist journals exchange their ideas and agree on forms of co-operation.
This form of network has to face problems of project management and
organisation similar to those facing the first type. Differences in the backgrounds of the various institutions, on the other hand, present minor prob43
lems as it is less vital to the aim of the project to cover all regions and
nations. In terms of quality, dissemination and transfer of the respective
products, however, it has become clear that both an infrastructural network
and a professional network need co-ordinating by a Europe-wide institution, such as a “European Institute for Adult Education” that would have to
concentrate mainly on this task.
Co-operation
Co-operation is a less strict form of collaboration than networks, and is not
so much characterised by stability, obligation, or continuity. Under the
SOCRATES programme various forms of co-operation have been realised.
One type of co-operation is characterised by the exchange of a particular
model or product. Usually, the initial idea has originated in one organisation where it has been successfully implemented. Study visits are then
organised for colleagues from other countries and an exchange of experience is encouraged, motivating the partners to copy or adapt the basic idea
in their home countries. Examples are the project European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59) or the dissemination of study circles from the North in
the project The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality (no. 97). The
problems related to this type of project derive from the pattern of matching
one active partner with a number of passive ones, which is in conflict with
the need for active implementation of the models proposed (for example a
continuing education week) in the partner countries. Project work must
therefore include the task of modifying and adapting the model as appropriate in the individual cases.
A second type of co-operation consists of a mutual exchange of ideas,
experiences and examples of good practice. In most of the projects aiming
at European partnership, the first year is devoted to such an exchange, even
if the original schedule looks different. The focus is on getting to know each
other, presenting one’s own models to the partners and intensifying the
networking between the institutions. The project APEL – Assessment of Prior
Experiential Learning (no. 05), which centred on the exchange of accreditation systems, may serve as an example.
The question of active versus passive involvement forms an important criterion for a distinction between various project partnerships. The active
partners are those determining and managing the project. Usually they are
also responsible for the formal co-ordination. Passive partners (called by
some “sleeping partners”) wish to benefit from the activities, but make only
few contributions themselves and are often unable to implement the model
proposed by the active partners in their own countries. For the definition
of project partnerships in future, closer attention will have to be paid to
the way active and passive roles are allocated between the partners.
44
The question of homogeneity or heterogeneity within a partnership is an
equally important problem. In many projects there are complaints about
the heterogeneous composition of the group of partners which is, nevertheless, at the same time felt to be enriching. The project Adult Literacy
and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57), for example, has seen
some unusual combinations of employers and trade unions on the one
hand, with adult education organisations on the other. Such projects are
innovative in that the same heterogeneous composition would have to be
created in each of the partner countries, where it might then lead to new
synergies. In the field of training-the-trainers, priority is given to homogeneous groups. It is interesting to note that the so-called homogeneous
groups (for example in the project Linking Adult Education With Open
Culture and Museum, no. 19) end up by discovering the heterogeneity of
their concepts and partners. The closer the co-operation within a partnership, the clearer the differences in cultural, regional and personal background will become.
It seems that projects with good project management are also successful in
“networking” co-operation (cf. P. Federighi et al., The Preparation and
Management of Transnational Adult Education Projects, Amersfoort 1997).
Ideally, each partner accepts their part of the responsibility and undertakes
the implementation in their own country accordingly. A fair division of
resources is essential to this. Projects that do not share responsibility run
the risk of being abortive (cf. for example the project ERDI AE Networking,
no. 84), which complained about insufficient feedback during the development of a common framework). Projects with fewer partners seem to
develop products of better quality which can also be implemented more
quickly and efficiently (e.g., the project “ADEPT: Adult Education in
European Perspective for Target groups”, no. 85, with four partners developing a quality handbook for educational centres).
Almost all projects found that the phase of becoming acquainted with the
partners took more time than had been foreseen, and usually the first year
was spent in getting to know each other, identifying common objectives
and implementing the project. As co-operation in the field of adult education within the European Union has only just begun, it is often difficult to
find the right partners. Thus existing partnerships are often taken as a basis,
even if they are not suitable for the project, since finding new partners requires a lot of time and effort. Projects such as Observatoire: Etude de
faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau transnational européen spécialisé en matière des adultes en milieu rural (no. 08)”, Pubblico e Biblioteca,
Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura (no. 76) and Linking Adult
Education With Open Culture and Museum (no. 19), which found their
partners with the help of the European Association for the Education of
45
Adults, clearly show how necessary it is to assist projects in this task. In the
project AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners (no. 58), it
was only possible to set up a group – and a rather heterogeneous one –
after a long and thorough search.
The more partner-oriented the project management, the more time is
needed at the beginning to find suitable partners and set up systematic cooperation. In the second year, however, this will lead to very positive
effects. It is to be expected that establishing partnerships will become easier
over the next few years and that these partnerships will be organised in a
better way. Nevertheless, central support would be extremely helpful in this
respect, by assisting projects in finding suitable partners, promoting communication between them and establishing contacts.
d) Intercultural Co-operation
One of the main aims of the SOCRATES programme and its Adult Education
Action is to enhance perceptions of European cultures, to encourage exchange between them, and to improve mutual acceptance. The SOCRATES
Guidelines invite all projects to exchange knowledge of their home country’s culture, traditions and languages, with partners and to discover or
jointly develop common European features. Participation in projects with
partners from different countries is intended to foster mutual understanding and sensitivity. Therefore, the aspect of intercultural co-operation
represents an important evaluation criterion. In this connection, problems
relating to language and culture are to be examined as well as the question of whether linguistic and cultural differences are perceived (and
handled) as a hindrance rather than a stimulus.
Roughly speaking, there are two ways in which the question of language is
dealt with by the projects. One of them is that a common language, usually English or French, is used by all the associated partners. Those project
partners that do not speak this language have to adapt themselves since all
papers and documents have to be written in this “working language” which
is also used in discussions. Examples of this type are the projects Banque
de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine de l’Education des
Adultes – B.I.S.E., (no. 45, working language: French), European Adult
Learners’ Weeks (no. 59, English) and Quality Assurance in Adult Education (no. 02, German).
Other projects rely on translation services (for written documentation) or
simultaneous or consecutive interpreting during group discussions, with
each partner speaking in their native tongue, as far as possible. This is the
case in Linking Adult Education With Open Culture and Museum (no. 19)
46
and ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe (no. 07) although, in practice, both projects have a tendency to use
a common working language (English, in this case) as well.
The variety of languages is usually felt to be enriching but may also lessen
efficiency. The necessary reciprocal explanations of terminology are difficult and time-consuming, and misunderstandings concerning the objectives
of the project may lead to unexpected conflicts at a later time. On the other
hand, co-operation in different languages may improve perceptions of different cultures and acceptance of the European reality, which in turn
implies a learning effect for the persons – and, subsequently, the institutions – involved. In all cases, the use of different languages has led to
increased project costs that had not always been calculated sufficiently (because of lack of experience) at the beginning.
More than language itself, the differences in cultural backgrounds proved
a problem, for example regarding the framework conditions set by law,
social background or historical understanding. This led to considerable
problems with terminology and the definition of objectives. Many projects
were forced to develop a glossary first in order to reach agreement between
the partners concerning the rationale of the project. The partners, in turn,
faced the challenge of necessary cultural adaptations in their respective
countries. Once again, it turns out that the basis for a mutual understanding of adult education is not primarily one of a linguistic nature. The
partners in the monolingual project Quality Assurance in Adult Education
(no. 02, language: German) were in fact just as much confronted with
divergent ideas about the development of quality in adult education as
those working in more than one language.
Frameworks that have been jointly developed in one language are often
felt to be a hindrance. For example, the frameworks of the projects ERDI
AE Networking (no. 84) and ALICE -Information Service on non Formal
Adult Education and Europe (no. 07) were at best barely tolerated by some
partners as they felt that these frameworks were contrary to their own cultural perceptions and social loyalties.
Often there were divergent views within the projects about the translation
of texts. Some projects attempted meaning-based translations of texts, with
the content being adapted to the target culture. Others translated literally,
which meant that texts could not always be fully understood by the readers. It is therefore necessary to develop a translation culture for specific
working contexts.
A further obstacle is represented by the different levels of technical development. The Internet, for example, has only recently been introduced
in southern countries whereas the Nordic countries are already well
acquainted with it. CD-ROMs and floppy disks cannot be used in all insti47
tutions. This restricts the usage of the products, or even makes it impossible. For example, some partners in the ALICE project (no. 07) were not
able to read the floppy disk which had been produced. This is why many
written or print media documents are still being produced.
In some projects, the existence of different cultures forms part of the very
programme, although this is not always explicitly stated. Projects in which
many countries were able to contribute their own models or experience
(e.g. Older Adults as helpers in learning processes, no. 37, or APEL –
Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning, no. 05) were found to be
extremely enriching by all partners. Some partners even introduced themselves to each other by means of video presentations during the first phase
of a project. This aspect, originally not considered by many of the projects,
contributed enormously to mutual understanding (for example in the BISE
project Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine de
l’Education des Adultes, no. 45).
Some projects – such as BISE (no. 45), Quality Assurance in Adult Education (no. 02), and AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners
(no. 58), had to develop a common philosophy first. The last of these
developed a glossary as a common basis for project work. The library
project Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della
Letteratura (no. 76) had to cope with major problems in the co-operative
studies as three different languages were being used. In some projects, the
very structure of the partnership entailed further cultural differences. The
partners in AESAL included private organisations as well as university-based
non-profit making organisations whose different views and conceptions
took a lot of time to process and deal with during the project.
An incident which occurred during the project Learning Boutiques – for
Lifelong Learning (no. 26) may serve as an example of possible consequences caused by cultural diversity and different views. The partners in
Berlin sent out invitations to attend a public meeting starting at 10.00 p.m.
for a presentation of the project. Apologies were received from the partners from Denmark (where the concept of “learning boutique” had originated) who were convinced that nobody would attend a meeting at 10.00
p.m. The contrary proved to be the case and 80 participants presented
themselves, deeply disappointed to hear that the Danish colleagues were
not coming. Similar events and anecdotes may be found in other projects
and will certainly contribute to mutual understanding across European
borders, providing that they undergo reflection and processing.
Some projects emphasised the difficulties of co-operation between countries of northern Europe and countries of southern Europe. The Greek colleagues, in particular, complained that they did not benefit enough from
the projects and were “left behind” by the central organisation in Brussels.
48
In their turn, however, they were perceived by others to be passive partners. It is obvious that adult education has taken different paths in the North
and South of Europe. Perhaps this problem should be dealt with in the context of a special project so as to draw the necessary conclusions for future
co-operation. The same applies to the difference in cultural backgrounds
between Western and Eastern Europe, and the difficulties which this is likely
to entail for future projects within the extended European Union. These
difficulties should be anticipated and faced in a purposive manner by enabling specific projects (under a common programme, if possible) to develop ways of dealing with the different cultural points of departure.
e) Dissemination
Dissemination represents, implicitly, an important aspect within the evaluation of the Adult Education Action. It is of particular importance for
projects that develop products for practical application which need further
dissemination.
As regards the evaluation findings related here, it was not possible, however, to treat dissemination in an exhaustive manner, because most of the
projects evaluated had only recently ended or were still running. An adequate evaluation of the dissemination of the products will therefore only
be possible later. At this point we are able to outline some possible ways in
which the project outcomes will be disseminated, according to different
types of products.
Basically, there are four different types of products: those in traditional
written form; technological products and products involving multimedia;
products aimed at multipliers; and products that play a role in the context
of networks.
Intended products in written form include guidelines and teaching materials. Some of these are already available, for example the guidelines on
quality assurance (Quality Assurance in Adult Education, no. 02), the teaching guide on European culture (INTERLAB 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la formazione del cittadino europeo, no. 75) and the
teaching aids for the project Older Adults as helpers in learning processes
(no. 37). As far as can be seen, these guidelines and aids were designed for
implementation and application within different national and linguistic
contexts by the use of single modules. The dissemination of these guidelines is not clear, however. Equally unclear is the case of the project Pour
des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43), which
produced a pack containing video cassettes and a CD-ROM for lessons to
counter racism. It would be necessary to analyse the whereabouts of the
49
9,000 copies supposed to be located within adult education institutions in
Europe.
Many of the handbooks are designed especially for teachers and trainers
in adult education, e.g. the manual for organisers developed by the project
European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), the manual on the use of information (ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe, no. 07), the manual for experts in quality assurance (Quality
Assurance in Adult Education, no. 02), and the manual on innovative trends
in adult education and museums (Linking Adult Education With Open
Culture And Museum, no. 19). It is not possible to discern strategies of systematic dissemination for these handbooks. As far as can be seen, they were
distributed widely but sporadically and unsystematically. In future, it will
be necessary to include the intended dissemination strategies as a criterion in the evaluation of project products. It will also be necessary to entrust
a European institution with supporting the individual projects in the dissemination of the products after the project itself has ended.
The relatively short period of four years for the SOCRATES programme has
shown that written products are increasingly being replaced by technological and multimedia products. In some cases this has happened even during
the course of the project itself. The production of a floppy disk was chosen
by the projects APEL – Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (no. 05),
containing an overview of accreditation examples, ALICE – Information
Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe (no. 07), containing
relevant data, and AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners
(no. 58), containing self-assessment software. CD-ROMs were produced by
the projects INTERLAB 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la
formazione del cittadino europeo (no. 75), containing relevant addresses
and examples of good practice, Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes
Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43), containing information for trainers and reading materials for the classroom, Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale
dans le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E. (no. 45), containing
interactive software for position finding, and AESAL (no. 58), containing a
list of European institutions providing distance learning materials. Videos
were produced by the projects Older Adults as helpers in learning processes
(no. 37), presenting examples of good practice, and Pour des Citoyens
Européens Antiracistes Tolérants et Solidaires (no. 43), which produced a
video against racism. The intention of presenting the products on the Internet was increasingly mentioned, mostly with the aim of making available experiences, project results and addresses. This applies to APEL (no. 05),
INTERLAB (no. 75), ALICE (no. 07), AESAL (no. 58) and European Environmental Action (no. 69). Current projects increasingly refer to the Internet as
a sole or supplementary means of dissemination.
50
As with the products in written form, it is not possible to recognise any
systematic dissemination of the technological or multimedia products.
Much can be said for the Internet, and the opportunities which it offers have
been exploited by the insertion of relevant information, but there is less
evidence to date that this information has actually been accessed and used.
One form of dissemination – not of the products themselves but of perceptions of them – consisted of press articles, press conferences and seminars
presenting the results of the projects and giving further information on
project activities to a specialised public. Examples of relevant dissemination activities are to be found in the project on Quality Assurance in Adult
Education (no. 02), in APEL (no. 05), European Adult Learners’ Weeks
(no. 59), Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della
Lettura (no. 76), Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le
Domaine de l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E. (no. 45), and Adult Literacy
and the Development of Lifelong Learning (no. 57), with the last of these
including various case studies. Dissemination meetings were held at
national level in the context of the Quality Assurance Project (no. 02) and
the project on the public and libraries (Pubblico e Biblioteca no. 76); and
at international level in European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), Learning
Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (no. 26) and APEL (no. 05). International
meetings with a disseminating character were held during the course of the
projects Pubblico e Biblioteca (no. 76) and Linking Adult Education With
Open Culture And Museum (no. 19).
It must be stressed that dissemination of results and project publicity which
targeted specific individuals and the specialised public, was more successful than a diffuse, wide-ranging information policy. On the other hand, this
requires a relatively high amount of time and energy, money and staff,
which had not been provided for by most of the projects. Furthermore, once
a project has ended, products can hardly go on being disseminated in this
way. It also appears that most projects and educational institutions lack
concepts of public relations and promotional strategies, nor can these be
developed in a professional way. Europe-wide support is needed for public relations and promotional activities in the educational field.
Dissemination is easier through existing networks, which have more solid
foundations and work in a durable way. This might be found in future with
projects such as APEL – Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (no. 05),
which is setting up a network of specialists in the field of accreditation,
ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe
(no. 07), which is developing a network of experts and institutions in nonformal adult education, and Linking Adult Education With Open Culture
And Museum (no. 19), which is building a network on the overlap between
museums and adult education. Some of these networks have already come
51
into existence. The question of how they can aid targeted dissemination
needs further examination in future. At any rate, it is important for these
networks to continue to exist (cf. section g on Sustainability).
In general, the concept of marketing is new in the field of adult education,
but of increasing importance for the dissemination of products. Nearly all
projects had problems with the dissemination of the results. This is also true
for ALICE (no. 07), whose database is at present known to insiders only,
even though it has been designed for thousands of addressees.
Individual responsibilities for dissemination are not always clear. Funding
is often insufficient and in most instances the budgets just cover the costs
of development and partial translation of the products. As regards production and distribution, appropriate organisations and structures are lacking.
Hardly ever will a plan be found, even a rudimentary one, of product dissemination.
It is in the field of distribution and transnational dissemination that appropriate and sufficient resources and the relevant know-how are most needed.
The many Internet sites and homepages that have been developed over
recent years should be maintained, made better known and widely referred
to.
In this context, consideration should be given to whether dissemination
strategies might be related to a closer quality assessment of the products
available. There is no examination or evaluation of different approaches
to making products suitable for dissemination. This is especially the case
with products that were designed as teaching guidelines.
Having been assessed, products should be collated for dissemination in
different languages. This must be systematically organised by the national
agencies and co-ordinated at European level. Professional basic structures
are essential to this activity. It is true that many projects have discovered
the Internet during their work and used it for dissemination purposes, but
little is known about its use. Here, too, quality assessment is needed, as
well as in the case of the surprisingly large number of CD-ROMs that have
been developed. A follow-up evaluation to this end would lead to further
findings. Also, it would be desirable to examine distribution and dissemination modalities that draw upon existing structures (specialised magazines
and agencies, for example). In this context, it would certainly be useful to
build up a transnational institution as a disseminating agency.
f) Transferability
Transferability is an important criterion for the quality of European projects
since the degree to which their methodologies, objectives and products are
52
applicable under different circumstances, in other regions and by other
people, represents a measure of their usefulness and efficiency. It is an
important criterion for evaluation even if the transferability of the products
or methods is not a part of the intended objectives of the project. In this
case it should be noted that transferability is not a criterion inherent in the
project itself but one which belongs to the SOCRATES programme.
Normally, a distinction is made between transferability of products, transferability of structures, transferability of objectives and transferability of
methods. As to the direction of transfer, a distinction is made – in an international context – between transferability to different institutions, transferability to different regions, transferability to different groups and transferability to different languages or cultural backgrounds.
All these types of transferability feature in the adult education projects
under study. In many cases transferability had already been mentioned as
an objective in the proposals or was formulated during the project work,
and quite often the results or products actually appear to be transferable.
International co-operation, it seems, is living and drawing on the principle of successful (though in reality sometimes unsuccessful) transferability.
It may be more helpful to illustrate transferability by means of a structure
which seems more appropriate than the above-mentioned “classical”
typology of transferability. Practice has revealed the existence of three types
of intended and realised transferability in the context of SOCRATES
projects:
– transfer as a project method;
– transfer of the product; and
– personal transfer.
Transfer as a project method
The use of transfer as a method may be seen, in one way or another, in
many projects. It is in Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (no. 26),
European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59) and The Nordic Dimension in the
European Reality (no. 97) that transfer plays a particularly important role.
Each of these projects aimed at implementing a model that had been developed in other countries and regions.
The “Learning Boutique” is a model which is itself the result of a transfer of
concepts from the world of business to the world of education. The Danish
debate on “learning boutiques” is based upon the concept of purchase: selfaware customers purchase goods that suit them. Experience within the
projects has shown that the export of a model is not always a success. The
French partner abandoned the project after a short time, owing to lack of
resources and poor demand. Experience has also shown that transfer may
53
lead to significant changes to the concept, because of differing circumstances. Thus, the concept of the “learning boutique” in Berlin has become
the basis for teacher training in adult education, whereas in Iceland it is
increasingly becoming the conceptual basis for the overall structure of the
adult education system. In all cases, the attempted implementation under
different circumstances of the “learning boutique” model resulted in the
partners’ being stimulated to further develop the concept autonomously
rather than just adopting it as a whole.
European Adult Learners’ Weeks (no. 59), according to the project report,
never intended just to transfer all elements of the concept from the United
Kingdom to other European countries. Rather, it aimed at identifying transferable elements which might be used in different education systems and
cultures. To this end, a seminar was held for discussion of these elements.
The elements that were finally found included motivation, links with the
media, learner-orientation, combination of private and public funding,
decentralisation, involvement of libraries, museums and galleries and the
role of awards. Problems with transferability arose with the very unit of
time, “week”, which met with the disapproval of many. Other elements,
too, met with resistance or could not be realised. Unfortunately, it is difficult to give reasons for this, as the project set no great store by the evaluation of transferability.
The explicit intention of The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality
(no 97) was to examine the transferability of a system of intercultural and
international exchange which had already been put into practice in the
countries of northern Europe. According to this system, learners receive
systematic support when they attend courses offered by adult education
centres in other Nordic countries. In the context of the project and following this model, learners from eight non-Nordic countries were invited to
attend Nordic adult education centres for a period of between three and
six weeks, to record their experience and to examine the possibility of
transferring this system to their own countries. The project resulted in cooperation between the hosting Nordic adult education centres; the transfer of the system to other European countries, however, is doubtful. This is
due both to a lack of infrastructure (such as the residential adult education
centres existing in the Nordic countries) and to a different understanding
of intercultural co-operation and different learning methods in other countries (whereas the Nordic countries as a group share a common basis of
ideological and methodological aspects).
A further aspect of transferability within the project work itself can be identified in projects that gather and organise data in a systematic way, e.g.
ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe
(no. 07) and ERDI AE Networking (no. 84). These projects aimed at devel54
oping data-gathering formats which should be applicable within different
national structures of further and continuing education. In this context, it
became obvious that comparative research into adult education is generally inadequate. In this context, those problems that have to do with language and terminology were particularly striking as they further increased
the number of application-related problems caused by the difference in
structures. The use of a “guiding language” (English, in this case) was not
able to solve these problems.
Transfer of the product
Many projects intended to transfer their products, which means not just
dissemination but practical application of a teaching method, a curriculum, a certificate or an evaluation system. Projects such as Aurora (no. 95),
Training of Volunteers in Adult Education (no. 87), AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners (no. 58) and Quality Assurance in Adult
Education (no. 02) are able to offer interesting insights into this matter.
The intended transfer of accreditation systems in the context of the AESAL
project (no. 58) met with great interest. Problems arose due to the different
structures of the various partner institutions, questions of acceptance of the
accreditation system, and unsatisfactory communication between the
organisations involved. It still seems possible, however, that the accreditation system might be successful in future, after the project itself has ended.
This clearly shows that projects of this kind must reckon with quite larger
amounts of time for product transfer. And once again, it appears necessary
that institutional bodies should organise this transfer.
The project Quality Assurance in Adult Education (no. 02) developed a
concept of quality assurance that is applicable to various types of educational institutions. In this sense, the concept is transferable, although there
is no real evidence of transfer as the concept has not been widely disseminated as yet. Moreover, in projects which are dealing with products of
economic interest, market-related issues such as confidentiality of data,
copyright, sales, and counselling costs add to the problems related to transfer. As a consequence, it will be necessary to define more precisely such
key data of economic relevance as well as to establish systems for more
durable dissemination, transfer and transfer evaluation at European level.
The project Training of Volunteers in Adult Education (no. 87) has developed a curriculum for specialised training of volunteers in adult education,
also comprising methodological and organisational aspects. There is every
indication that this model is transferable. Nevertheless, the dissemination
and application of the training programme remains unsatisfactory. It was
not possible to examine the transferability on the basis of evaluated pilot
transfers. It seems necessary either to give, from the outset, “producing”
55
projects an infrastructure to support the organisation of transfer, or to run
follow-up projects specifically designed for this task.
Personal transfer
Personal transfer may be found in many of the SOCRATES projects. The
exchange students in The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality
(no. 97) are carriers of personal transfer as are the participants in Training
of Volunteers in Adult Education (no. 87). In particular, projects establishing co-operative links between educational institutions and cultural organisations place special emphasis on personal transfer, for example the The
Centres of Light and Learning Project (no. 73) or Linking Adult Education
With Open Culture and Museum (no. 19). These projects aimed to enhance
the educational dimension in the activities of cultural institutions, to share
experiences, and to make studying with such institutions into a topic in its
own right. Documentation on the project activities reveals a large amount
of exchange of experience, creative development and conceptual linking
in the context of the activities, which will no doubt be implemented by the
participants from other countries within their home institutions. Only after
follow-up studies have examined relevant opportunities, circumstances and
interests in such transfer activities, will it be possible to give a closer description of the quality and character of personal transfer. Future projects
could then draw upon personal transfer in a purposive manner.
g) Sustainability
The question of whether the product of a project should be “sustainable”
may have different weightings in the evaluation of projects. Projects aiming
at finished products that will not be further developed must be evaluated
in a different way, in terms of sustainability, from projects aiming at creating structures, networks or periodicals. In the case of the former type of
project, criteria such as enduring partnership or lasting significance of the
project’s content and theme will be applied in the assessment of its
sustainability; in the case of the latter type, the criteria will rather include
the durable, institution-like implementation of the network or the relevant
structure. For projects of the first type, questions of dissemination or transfer are more important than the aspect of sustainability, which is, in turn
especially important for projects of the second type. The manual on environmental education (European Environmental Action, no. 69) represents
an example of the first type, the database on non-formal education (ALICE
– Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe (no. 07)
an example of the second.
56
The most important indicator of the (measurable) sustainability of a project
is the financing of work after the period of EU funding. Most projects without sound financial foundation to ensure their “afterlife” are sustainable
only to a limited degree. As regards financing, a first look is needed at the
division of responsibilities and tasks in the project as well as at the activities carried out subsequently. Usually, those co-ordinating the project turn
out to be those most concerned to ensure the “afterlife” of structural products. They will however, be unlikely to succeed in this unless they are
assisted by the network of project partners, provided that this still exists.
As a consequence, responsibilities – and a sense of responsibility – should
be widely spread among the partners during the project itself. This will
enhance the chances of both future funding and co-operation.
As to continued funding of projects after their conclusion, three variants
may be distinguished:
• It is planned (or even agreed) that the project will be continued with
national government subsidies: this is the case with Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly ‘Lifelong Learning in Europe’ (no. 42), where
the existence of a European journal is guaranteed by the Finnish
government; or the project Multi-lingual Data-base of Adult Education
Terminology (no. 98), which is expected to be continued by the Nordic
Council on the basis of an application. The problem with this type of
continued financing is that it is limited and has no institutional basis.
In addition, it entails application procedures with uncertain outcomes
as regards final approval. There is also the risk of national funding
bodies focusing on national interests and pushing into the background
the European dimension of the project. Experience has shown that,
pace the existing Nordic Council, bi- or trilateral funding is highly
unlikely and that individual governments are rather unwilling to cover
alone the costs of project work from which other states will also benefit.
• The second type of possible post-SOCRATES funding is that the project
will be jointly financed out of the budgetary funds of the partner institutions and organisations, which will continue to co-operate on the basis
of the existing network. This concept has been envisaged for ALICE –
Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe (no. 07)
and has already been implemented by Mediapolis – Centro di uso attivo dei Media per l’Educazione degli Adulti (no. 77). If this funding
model is chosen, the individual organisations must anticipate the project
allocation and the project’s objectives when planning their budgets. The
inclusion of the project costs in the budget will usually be possible only
if the project itself is regarded as something like an “initial funding” of a
database, a curriculum or a network that forms part of the regular acti57
vities of the institution in question, and if, after this initial phase, the
amount of funding required may be reduced.
• A third possibility consists in obtaining private funding for the maintenance of the products that have been developed in the context of an
EU-funded project. There has been some discussion and reflection on
this option in various projects, but so far no private funding has been
sought. This is chiefly due to legal questions (uncertainty about copyright, for example), to the fact that marketing elements had not been foreseen or included in any of the projects, and to the fact that the products
of the projects do not usually pay for themselves on the free market. This
applies to databases (ALICE, no. 07), journals (Quarterly ‘Lifelong Learning in Europe, no. 42) and curricula (cf. the project on basic feminist
studies Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines Feministischen
Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle, no. 01). It is obvious here that, at
European level, there are still few links between the sectors subsidised
by the state and private marketing or refinancing.
The models of “post-project funding” described above represent only ideal
types. In reality, there might be combinations of two or more of them in
various ways, although such combinations have not been found as yet in
the projects under examination.
The post-project funding structure is an important criterion for the evaluation of a project. The institutions providing funds for projects (European
Commission and national agencies) are called upon to develop new procedures so that the institutions implementing the projects have broader
scope for subsequent funding of the products to be developed.
The nature of the continued project work and its sustainability has to be
considered in this context. Some types will be more costly than others. The
continuation, implementation and maintenance of the database in ALICE
(no. 07), for example, implies updating at regular intervals, the analysis of
data use and access, and the development of data evaluation modes for
specific purposes. Costs for this are not as high as for the initial investment
but require a sound financial foundation and competent work of good quality by those involved. It still remains unclear where and in what way a
central co-ordinating body for the ALICE database should be established at
European level. The case of the Multi-lingual Data-base of Adult Education Terminology (no. 98) is similar. Its results are already available on the
Internet but need continual maintenance and updating. Similarly, the quarterly Lifelong Learning in Europe (no. 42) requires not only the continuation of regular work but further development so as to become increasingly
attractive at European level.
Continued networking forms another aspect of sustainability which is less
costly but is significant in terms of structures and institutions, and is worth
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supporting. Not only partnerships (cf. section c) but also movements that
have developed on the basis of projects come under this heading. A relevant example is the project Older Adults as helpers in learning processes
(no. 37), which has generated a movement in favour of the involvement of
older adults in further and continuing education. Another example may be
found in the project Second Chance for Disabled Adults – a Second Chance
in Adult Education (no. 89), which has established a firm network in as
sensitive a field as represented by this target group. The editors and publishers of journals on adult education also continued to meet after conclusion of the project (Supporting European Citizenship and the European
Dimension in Instruction through Publications and Teaching Materials by
Editors of Adult Education Publications in Europe, no. 41) and agreed on
publishing strategies in bi- or trilateral contacts. Such networks need an
institutional nucleus as a reference point. This could be national in nature
(which would imply the risk of abandoning the European dimension) but
ideally should be at international level.
More costly and demanding, in terms of sustainability, are the curricular
structures envisaged by some of the projects, for example the modules of
the project Training of Volunteers in Adult Education (no. 87), which need
a responsible body as well as lasting acceptance. Similarly, the modules of
the Austrian-led project on basic feminist studies (no. 01) must be implemented in regular institutions – universities or institutions of continuing
education – if they are to have a real chance of surviving. The fact that they
have been developed by and within institutions and organisations is not
necessarily a guarantee of their continued existence after the end of project
funding.
h) Project Administration
During the evaluation of the projects it has proved useful to handle the issue
of “project administration” as a criterion in its own right. This concerns
project administration by the associations involved – insofar as this is not
dealt with under other headings (especially “networking”), as well as the
administration of projects by the responsible Directorate General XXII of
the European Commission and the Technical Assistance Office (TAO) in
Brussels, which assists the European Commission in the technical management and administration of the SOCRATES programme. Important aspects
of project administration are application procedures, funding arrangements
and information procedures.
Some information problems involving the application procedures were
encountered – but there has been improvement recently because of pro59
gramme information which has been distributed in time, programme meetings and the activities of the national agencies. The application forms were
seen as being too comprehensive, and difficult to fill in: they required too
much time and energy, given the high degree of uncertainty as to whether
the application would be successful. Furthermore, the amounts of money
which were devoted to individual projects within the Adult Education
Action were sometimes relatively small compared with the total costs of
each project. Some organisations therefore abstained from submitting proposals because, in their opinion, the time and energy needed were out of
proportion to the potential benefit.
Many projects complained of a lack of information about the approval procedure for projects and the time lapse after approval: definite confirmation
of approval was often given six or seven months after project application.
This led to delays in the start of projects so that the time schedules which
had been laid down earlier no longer applied. If deadlines for intermediate and final reports were not changed accordingly, projects had at most
seven months for the first phase instead of the anticipated 12 months. For
these reasons, the project co-ordinators all agreed that one year was too
short for a project. Furthermore, the signed contract confirmations were
often sent very late and did not include clear statements of the amounts
and the nature of financial support. The grants offered by the Commission
always cover only a percentage of the real expenditure, so that the support
which is eventually given to a project can be lower than anticipated, when
the project partners, in an attempt at saving money, have incurred lower
costs than originally stated in the application. These details of funding conditions quite often led to confusion. In some cases, the budget proposals
submitted were massively reduced, without appropriate changes in the
project objectives. For example, the project Quality Assurance in Adult
Education (no. 02), which had applied for financial support of 60 %, eventually only received 15 % in the third year.
In the first years of SOCRATES, there also seems to have been a lack of
information and support in the search for partners and the development of
co-operation at the beginning of projects. This contrasted with the arrangements for the LEONARDO DA VINCI programme, under which the national
agencies organised exchange seminars six months before the deadlines for
submission of proposals so that the partners in the different countries had
time enough to establish their co-operation contacts. By 1997/98, however,
seminars of this type were also organised within SOCRATES. This represents a positive development which should be further pursued.
General problems in the distribution and exchange of information are mentioned. The criticism is made that the refusal of projects or project extensions was not sufficiently justified, while in Brussels (at the Commission
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and TAO) fault was found with the project management in many cases, and
with the completion of financial statements and invoices. This led to delays
in the allocation of funds, which was a problem for Brussels as well as for
the receiving institutions. From the projects’ point of view, the funds arrived
too late and the institutions had to keep on asking for the money.
The division of work and the responsibilities of the Technical Assistance
Office on the one hand and the European Commission on the other were
not transparent enough; in many cases it was not clear which was the
responsible authority to be addressed in Brussels.
The time and energy needed for administration of the projects was said to
be far too high. For example, the projects Linking Adult Education With
Open Culture and Museum (no. 19), AESAL: Access to European Studies
for Adult Learners (no. 58) and Quality Assurance in Adult Education
(no. 02) mentioned that they needed one person as an administrative
assistant who did nothing else in order to deal with all the receipts and
administrative rules. Up to one third of the available project resources were
needed in some projects to deal with the administrative procedures. In
many projects this work was carried out voluntarily because of financial
bottlenecks. Again, the projects complained about the discrepancy
between the time and energy needed for administration, and the actual
running of the project.
All participants felt an immense lack of models, overall concepts and rules
in the fields of marketing, copyright, translation and sales. In some projects,
e.g. AESAL (no. 58) a copyright contract was signed between the partners
which could be used as a model for other projects, or as a basis for project
approvals in Brussels. Existing and newly developed networks can and
should be connected with the authorities in Brussels and should be used
efficiently in the search for co-operation partners (e.g. ALICE – Information
Service on non Formal Adult Education and Europe, no. 07). All in all, there
is a need for rules and procedures which are easier and more efficient
regarding approvals, refusals, information, applications and funding, and
for an improvement in arrangements for the exchange of information.
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62
IV. Conclusions
a) Why a European Policy in Adult Education and Learning?
European society is passing through a period of transition from an industrial society to an information society. This is true regardless of the existing
social dissimilarities and contradictions among the various regions in
Europe and the fact that the outlines of the future “information society” are
still only roughly discernible. The transition process is developing fast
though. Thus, for example, the project proposals under the SOCRATES
Adult Education Action made four years ago envisaged printed manuals and
CD-ROMs as project outcomes, whereas in later stages of project work and
in subsequent proposals the Internet has played an increasingly important
role.
The term “information society” denotes mainly the internal structure and
organisation of our society. The future challenges which it will have to face
are of a different kind. They are primarily related to employment, to working modalities in general, to the environment and its increasing pollution,
and to the necessary personal development of the people and the future of
democracy. A further increase in unemployment cannot be excluded and
the debate on one key essential, water, has only just begun.
Education can only help to deal with these challenges but cannot solve
them alone. Educational policy is a part of social policy. The European
educational policy of the future will therefore have to promote measures
that can accommodate social aspects and allow for societal contexts.
Information is playing and will play an increasingly important part in the
future information society. It must not be forgotten, however, that information is not the same as knowledge or awareness. The transformation of
information into awareness requires learning, the purposeful acquisition of
knowledge by human beings.
Out of these changes – and from the need to control and influence them –
arise educational demands and requirements. The following requirements
are particularly obvious from a societal point of view:
– Increases in knowledge and information in all fields of society and for
all sections of the population;
– Higher qualification requirements in many jobs, demanding special
skills, competencies and increased knowledge;
– Increased competencies for participation and co-determination in
democratic societies at a national and a European level as these become
more complex and less transparent; and
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– An innovative and flexible labour force to match the restructuring of the
productive and service sectors of the economy.
Furthermore, besides these obviously social and economic demands in
European industrialised societies, there are increasing individual needs,
especially in the following areas:
– Greater competence for the whole population in all fields of life in orientation, selection and handling of increased amounts of knowledge;
– A higher level of self-regulation (including the necessary competencies)
and the ability to develop new social organisations in the light of the
obvious and – now it seems – inevitable development towards “individualisation”;
– Stabilising and constructive competencies to cope with the economic
and social changes that will have a fundamental impact on personality,
family life and morale; and
– An increasing need to maintain and to respect the variety of cultural
identities in order to counter tendencies towards globalisation and standardisation.
Social and economic needs on the one hand, and individual needs on the
other, have some common features but can also reveal contrasting or even
contradictory features. It is the task of adult education to meet existing
needs after proper reflection, and to bear in mind the interests of a future
human society. This applies to more than adult education, which cannot
resolve existing demands and problems alone and must co-operate with
other policy fields, e.g. labour market policy, social policy, regional policy
and economic policy. But adult education can contribute significantly to
the development of the labour force in the European Union and to the
development of people into autonomous individuals who can create their
own living conditions and environment with confidence. The concept of
lifelong learning and the adult education section of any future European
programme will go hand in hand to respond to the dynamic process of
change affecting both society and the individual.
Adult education, adult learning and lifelong learning are therefore becoming increasingly important. There is no contradiction or contrast
between adult education and learning on the one hand, and lifelong learning on the other. Adult education covers the longest single stage of human
life. One should not, however, consider or define adult education and
learning separately from the other stages of life. Only a common and
integrated discussion on the role that education and learning will play in
the future society and for the individual will help to overcome the problems of the future. The focus will have to be on learning rather than
education. The role of the individual learner in the acquisition of knowledge and information will (and should) become more important in future.
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One consequence will be that people’s needs will have to play a more
important role than before in the organisation of the education system,
the development of learning opportunities, counselling, learning support
and promotion.
Furthermore, it is obvious that adult education and learning are extremely
important for the active participation in democracy and social life. This has
to be seen as highly relevant in combating social exclusion as well.
The overall aim of a European adult education and learning policy will have
to include the propagation and justification of the need for adult education, adult learning and lifelong learning. This is important both for
vocationally oriented and for more general education. For the benefit of
learners, a European educational policy should aim at removing the
distinction between vocational and general education, which exists mainly for political, administrative and technical reasons, and should aim at
creating a political and social nucleus of new understanding of learning
and education.
This includes raising awareness of the necessity of education and learning
both for society and for individuals. In this context, learning and education should not be seen merely as instruments for coping with future change
but rather as a means to reflect social change critically, to further its human
aspects and to prevent inhuman ones. The European Commission itself is
called upon to play a more active role in raising awareness.
Innovation in the social and educational sector is not necessarily good in
itself or worthwhile for its own sake. Rather, it is necessary to give critical
consideration to the aims and conditions of innovation. Better criteria need
to be developed for deciding which innovations should be supported and
how. That does not alter the fact that, generally speaking, it is desirable to
promote a climate of flexibility and innovation.
In a European context, in particular, it is important to note that the transfer
of a certain type of education to other regions may – or may not – represent an innovation. The existing north-south (or south-north, depending on
which criteria are applied) divide and the future east-west and west-east
divides should be taken into account within a European educational policy, and the advantages and disadvantages of various structures of educational provision and practice should be judged against their respective
social and regional backgrounds.
Generally speaking, a broader political debate is needed on the structures,
efficiency and aims of education systems. To provide a sufficient basis for
such debate, much comparative educational research is needed, the outcomes of which should serve the purpose of informing policy decisions and
political decision-makers.
A structure for co-operation between the countries of the European Union
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will embrace not only public institutions and NGOs (non-governmental
organisations), but also co-operation between these and governmental and
administrative bodies, the civil society and voluntary organisations. This
applies at both the national and international level. National agencies have
a particularly important role to play in collaboration with each other and
in support of this work.
Increasingly, education systems have to move from being productionoriented providers to encouraging and meeting individual demand. Individuals will be the key actors, exercising choice and increasingly themselves
paying at least part of the cost of learning. Formal education and institutional provision will need to support the needs of individual learners
rather than continuing to work in a top-down way. Analysis of needs and
demands needs to be promoted and intensified, going beyond vague
“market analyses”, and being combined with development work. The
underlying aim of these analyses should be to reach sections of the population that have so far been excluded from educational programmes in
order to increase their participation.
To this end, a system of guidance and counselling must be further developed and supported. Co-operation between the countries of the European
Union, promoting guidance and counselling, is of the highest importance
both for individual learners and for an effective labour market. It has to be
remembered that, whilst it is necessary to support individuality and individual needs, the existing social structures should not suffer from this
“megatrend” of “individualisation” but should be preserved and strengthened where possible. It is necessary to view the existing cultural and social
structures in the various European regions in a differentiated way and to
value them highly.
Contradictions, contrasts and rivalries are to be avoided in adult education, adult learning and lifelong learning. Rather, adult education and adult
learning should be emphasised and strengthened as a fundamental part of
lifelong learning. Interests, insights and co-operative structures should be
seen together with their interconnections and developed accordingly. And
they should be granted sufficient financial support to encourage collaboration and partnership rather than competition.
Certain existing conditions need to be taken into account in the further
development of a European policy on adult education. These conditions
show both the potential and the limitations of a European „Adult Education“ Action. The most important factors are:
• Government funding and support for adult education is developing differently in the various EU countries. In some cases it is stagnating or even
declining; in others it is increasing. But in all cases, the field of adult
education itself is expanding. This means less government influence and
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•
•
•
•
increasing responsibility and financial demands on companies, voluntary associations and individuals.
The present demand for adult education cannot be matched by institutions of adult education any longer. Individuals face heavy demands for
self-organisation and self-regulation in the acquisition of new skills,
knowledge and competencies.
Because of the changes in job skill requirements and the dislocation
between social requirements and working life, the separation between
vocational and general education is no longer valid.
In contrast to other areas of education, adult education has a special role
to play in the social situation of every Member State. There is therefore
a need for a framework for adult education policy at a European level:
both co-operative and subsidiary elements and structures are required.
Adult education gains in European Added Value especially through the
interaction of the various systems in operation in the Member States. It
is possible to distinguish at least five different systems, the characteristics of which have to be considered individually.
b) Suggestions for a European Policy in Adult Education
Adults are currently both suffering from rapid social changes and exerting
an influence on those changes. The necessary concept of lifelong general
and vocational learning, however, hardly impinges on this core group of
the population. This particularly affects adults’ political, social and workrelated activities.
Jobs have changed and are still changing at an ever faster rate, requiring
increasing competencies in reading, writing and calculation. The required
level of „literary skills“ in working life is rising (see the 1997 OECD Report,
Adult Literacy in OECD Countries, ed. by T.S. Murray et al.). At the same
time, unemployment, and the number of persons who have no opportunity of taking part in continuing education programmes in their vocational
environment, are increasing. The vicious circle of disadvantage is expanding, so that continuing education in cultural and creative fields, in health
and family life, in the fields of leisure and aging, in active citizenship
(especially in the context of Europe) and in social care, is increasingly
necessary.
The economy and social life of EU countries can only develop in a competitive way if those population groups which are able to work are provided with adequate basic competencies such as literacy, new media,
language and computer skills, become active members of a social
community and live a complete and creative life. At the same time, these
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competencies are a precondition for survival in the newly developing information society.
A European policy should give a distinct place to adult education within
the overall concept of lifelong learning for the following reasons:
• Adult education is a rapidly developing field of education which follows
its own conceptional, financial and political rules.
• Adult education is connected very individually and differently with the
social and economic structures of each Member State, and there is therefore a need for specialised, integrated joint projects.
• Only specific support for adult education, and for the interaction and
co-operation of institutions in this field can lead to European Added
Value.
• Special issues of policy-making such as awareness of the need for adult
education, knowledge of particular needs and requirements, and cooperation between institutions, can only be covered by means of a separate chapter.
It is therefore recommended that a European programme (e.g. a new edition
of SOCRATES) should dedicate a separate chapter specifically to adult
education. ‘Separate’, however, does not mean ‘isolated’. Adult education
forming a part of lifelong learning, a future Adult Education Action will
necessarily have to relate to this overall concept in many ways. Of especial importance are bridges to the vocational sector. A future Adult Education Action should therefore be co-ordinated with a vocational Action of
the „LEONARDO DA VINCI“ type to promote future integration.
Generally, a European policy on adult education will have to undertake
the following tasks:
– To increase awareness of the need for adult education;
– To promote the integration of institutions and structures of adult education throughout Europe;
– To increase and strengthen the relative responsibility of individuals,
voluntary associations and organisations in relation to government
activities;
– To systematically create links with vocational training institutions and
with elements of lifelong learning;
– To provide European Added Value in the national structures and contents of adult education; and
– To support transfer, co-operation, innovation and exchange between the
adult education institutions in the EU Member States.
In the second chapter we had a look on the present state of the art of adult
education activities, especially transnational ones, in Europe. The achievements as well as the gaps which were recorded there eventually led to the
formulation of the following priorities for a future adult education policy.
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As in chapter II, we group these priorities under the four headings Demand,
Supply, Accreditation and Support.
Demand
Priorities in the field of “demand” are:
– Strengthening awareness of the need for education, raising motivation
and encouraging demand, especially among those who are socially disadvantaged or even excluded from society. This also means eliminating
barriers (including the development of new forms of funding), accepting the emerging needs of learners, and supporting learners in methods
of self-directed learning;
– Providing educational opportunities for those who are at a disadvantage
and for excluded population groups, especially for ethnic minorities,
migrants, rural communities and persons with poor reading and writing
abilities;
– Developing methods and systems which help learners to recognise their
own needs, and helping them to articulate these needs. Also, giving
advice and guidance, and providing clear proposals for new channels
of education to enable people to become autonomous, independent
learners;
– Encouraging entrepreneurs and companies to recognise and support the
value of the connection between vocational education and general education. Also, encouraging social partners to establish opportunities for
education in working life and in every job situation, and encouraging
co-operation between enterprises and institutions of adult education;
and
– Achieving a general understanding of the fact that learning – including
learning in general which is not connected with the job – improves
morale, motivation and behaviour and therefore improves the working
situation of adults, and of the need for educational information and
advertising and co-operation between educational institutions to serve
specific target groups.
Supply
Priorities in the field of supply are:
– New flexible structures for educational provision which are specifically
based on the educational needs of participants;
– Co-operation with organisations outside adult education, especially cultural and social organisations (museums, public libraries, welfare institutions, etc.);
– New (and cost-effective) forms of informal and self-organised learning
in conjunction with formal/organised learning;
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– Educational provision for adults in co-operation with the media, in relation to advertising, course programmes and materials;
– New learning systems and teaching methods using new technologies;
– Development of materials which can be transferred geographically and
culturally between educational courses;
– Encouragement for innovative initiatives for the continuing training of
trainers.
Accreditation
In order to assist mobility and choice for people, a system for certification
and accreditation needs to be developed which is accepted throughout
Europe and takes into account achievements and qualifications of both
general and vocational education programmes. Such a system of qualifications, certificates and accreditation should also seek to recognise learning achievements outside organised educational processes to facilitate and
give lasting support to processes of self-directed learning.
A major task of the future European adult education policy will be to support the development of:
– Accreditation systems for adult education which can be applied and
transferred between Member States;
– Accreditation and certification systems which systematise the relationship between vocational and non-vocational adult education within
countries;
– Accreditation models for the combination of non-formal and formal
learning systems; and
– Accreditation models for modular systems.
Support
Priorities in the field of support are:
– Structures which directly provide advice and teaching;
– Databases on provision and opportunities for continuing education;
– Support for national and regional institutions that gather and collate
information and provide knowledge.
– Initiatives to launch institutional and professional networks;
– Increased encouragement for initiatives that promote the creation of
permanent structures of co-ordination and integration;
– Joint research programmes on supraregional and supranational issues of
adult education;
– Research on structures of adult education and on the reasons for participation in adult education provision;
– Programmes and accreditation of teacher training in adult education;
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– Development of effective co-operation in the provision of services (e.g.
magazines, Internet, etc.) on a European basis.
A future European programme or action in the field of adult education
should set its priorities accordingly which means giving preference to
projects whose stated aims and objectives comply with the above-mentioned priorities.
More generally it can be said that each future project should contribute
to improving the cultural, social, political and economic situation of the
participants. This includes the development of a democratic awareness
and of the ability for self-direction. In all fields of adult education and
learning, those projects which have regard to the perspective of
employment and/or which help to combat social exclusion deserve
special attention and support. Equally important are projects in regions
which are isolated and suffer from economic problems. Of greatest interest
for the development of adult education and learning are projects which
combine cultural, social, political and economic aspects, institutions and
working persons. Ideally, projects should both build on traditional
structures and create new ones.
The recommendations in the Commission’s 1997 Green Paper Partnership
for a new organisation of work are able to provide a major point of
reference for future Adult Education Actions. Projects which reflect these
recommendations should be given an important role within these Actions.
The future organisation of labour is closely associated in terms of content
and structures with the need for adult education and learning. The fact that
adult education and learning are of vital importance for the economic and
social structure of European societies as well for the lives of individuals,
needs to be increasingly stressed by future projects.
c) Advice in management of the Adult Education dimension within
European Programmes
Concluding, we put forward a number of practical proposals concerning
the inclusion of adult education and learning in one or more future European programmes. They are derived from experience gained during the first
three years of the SOCRATES programme and are based on the evaluation
findings reported in this book (see in particular Chapter III on Evaluation
and Analysis).
• It seems essential to enhance the participation of national agencies and
umbrella organisations. They have a key role to play in spreading knowledge about participation opportunities and procedures in European programmes and actions among potential project applicants. The national
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•
•
•
•
•
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agencies’ work will be crucial for motivating a growing number of institutions and individuals to undertake appropriate activities in the field of
adult education, and for increasingly drawing Member States’ attention
to adult education in general.
Project funding by the European Union in the fields of vocational and
general education should be at the highest possible level and should
show a reasonable balance, as people’s learning needs do not adapt
themselves to this division within the education sector. Projects and programmes in both areas, vocational and general, should therefore be treated equally as regards funding. At the same time, funding decisions
should reflect the different opportunities for project work that exist in
the various European regions. The differences in infrastructure may lead
to very different funding needs. This should be sufficiently taken into
account when allocating grants for project activities.
One year is too short a period for most projects, particularly when
project work starts late for administrative reasons. Projects therefore
should be generally approved for a period covering more than just one
year. Innovative projects, in particular, need at least two years as their
activities take much more time to get going. Another negative effect of
the short duration has been to cause co-ordinators to choose only partners they knew already from previous projects, rather than to spend time
seeking new partners who might provide more appropriate input.
Invitations for proposals must provide a clear formulation of educational policy aims and make the criteria for selection transparent. Preparatory work on proposals needs to be facilitated.
Much attention needs to be paid to finding suitable partner organisations
in other European countries. The requirement of at least three partner
institutions has proved useful in this respect. The European Commission
is called upon to help applicants find appropriate partners by facilitating the creation of suitable networks and giving assistance with obtaining information on institutions and structures in other European countries. So far, the preparatory meetings that took place during the course
of the Adult Education Action have been very efficient in this regard.
However, the relevant departments within the European Commission
will need sufficient capacities for the counselling and support of applicants.
The same is true of the support structure to be recommended for projects;
it seems appropriate to formulate basic rules for co-operation between
international partners and to provide management courses for future
project partners. Existing experience may be of help in this respect. In
this connection, it is recommended that national agencies be given a
more active role.
• The dissemination of the outcomes of the projects, whether resource
materials, courses or professional advice, is unsatisfactory in almost all
the cases that have been examined. Questions of copyright, dissemination structures, translation, publishing and updating are not yet clear.
Equally uncertain are the nature and number of potential users and
beneficiaries at European and national level; the number appears
generally very low, and problems of translation and co-ordinated updating arise. Dissemination must be well planned in the initial project
proposals, and its funding considered. Consideration should be given to
establishing a common dissemination structure (network, institutions,
etc.) at European level to support the international dissemination which
partner institutions cannot satisfactorily provide.
• It is necessary to develop an acceptable system of evaluation, assessment and monitoring to assess the overall effectiveness of projects and
to ensure the quality of the outcomes. Time and energy invested by the
projects must be in proportion to the results expected. Monitoring and
evaluation should be planned for in project proposals and expected to
feed into a final evaluation.
• In many projects, there have been difficulties with timing of deadlines,
payments, and requirements for very detailed and repetitive reports,
which have affected the quality of work and taken up an unreasonable
amount of time; it is important in the future that financial and administrative procedures do not make unreasonable demands.
The preceding sections of this chapter have shown that it is possible (and
desirable) to improve on certain organisational and administrative issues
within a future European programme. Past policy decisions on priorities
need to be reconsidered carefully and adapted to the current situation. Such
decisions will shape the character of a future Adult Education Action and,
maybe, lead to considerable modifications. These might even prove necessary if the future European policy on adult education is to respond to
current societal needs and individual demands such as those outlined in
this paper. What remains unquestioned, however, is the significance of a
European programme as such. We strongly support the continuation of the
centrally organised Adult Education Action. This will allow countries to
learn from each other in partnership, and compensate for the variation in
priorities and adult education structures, some of which are very short-term,
in the various Member States. Essentially, a centrally organised Action will
protect broad experimental goals against individual national interests, to
the benefit of all European citizens.
73
74
V. Appendices
a) List of Projects under the Action “Adult Education” of the SOCRATES
Programme, 1995-1997
This is a list of the projects that were considered for the evaluation: It
includes all projects supported through the SOCRATES Adult Education
Action as a result of the 1995, 1996 and 1997 selection rounds. In 1997,
32 new projects were selected and supported whereas a further 31 projects,
which had started in the previous year(s), were extended for a second or
third year of activity. The remaining projects had started in 1995 or 1996
but had, by the end of 1997, all finished their activities.
The projects are listed by coordinating country, selection rounds and
project number in ascending order. The list contains the following information: Title of project, co-ordinating country, SOCRATES reference
number and a short description of project content and expected outcomes.
The SOCRATES reference, e.g. 25140 – CP – 2 – 97 – 1 – AT – ADULT
EDUC – ADU, is made up of the following components:
25140
↕
CP
↕
2
↕
97
↕
1
↕
AT
↕
ADULT-EDUC
↕
ADU
↕
project
number
project
type
year of
activity
application
year
selection
round
applicant
country -
programme
code
Action
code
no. 1
Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines Feministischen
Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle (Austria) 25140-CP-2-971-AT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Raising awareness of women’s history, learning more about different women’s histories at international level. Curricular development of a European basic course in
feminist studies in Austria.
no. 2
Quality Assurance in Adult Education (Austria) 35808-CP-397-1-AT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Improving the quality of Adult
Education by developing evaluation criteria, producing a training manual and training modules entitled: “Quality Management
in Adult Education Institutions”.
no. 3
Computer based training – Fernkurs: Bibel – Grundlage europäischer Kultur / Sekten
(Austria) 39858-CP-1-97-1-ATADULT EDUC-ADU Development of a CD-ROM on Religion
75
for autonomous learning on the Bible, religious minorities and
sects.
no. 4
Train the eco-trainer (Austria) 39935-CP-1-97-1-AT-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Development of six modules on eco-pedagogy for
eco-trainers targeting especially trainers in NGOs.
no. 5
APEL – Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (Belgium)
25019-CP-2-97-1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Access for adults –
especially disadvantaged adults – to the formal education system,
in particular to further and higher education. Development of a
European-wide database of APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning) good practices and of institutions with APEL
schemes; based on a comparative survey in the UK, Spain and
Belgium.
no. 6
ACCES: Par l’Alphabétisation à la Compréhension et la Connaissance de l’Europe Sociale (Belgium) 25052-CP-2-97-1-BEADULT EDUC-ADU Access to information and improvement of
understanding by illiterate adults of European political, economic, social, cultural and administrative issues. Drafting validation,
publication and dissemination in French, Spanish and English of
a compendium of pedagogical modules on European issues.
no. 7
ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe (Belgium) 34457-CP-3-97-1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Creation of a database on Adult Education organisations, programmes, legislation, research etc. for consultation by local, regional, national and international educational organisations.
no. 8
Observatoire: Etude de faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau transnational européen spécialisé en matière d’éducation
des adultes en milieu rural (Belgium) 34469-CP-3-97-1-BEADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of a permanent observatory to
elaborate, evaluate, diffuse, exchange information and products
concerning Adult Education and training in rural areas.
no. 9
Le Rôle des Nouvelles Technologies dans le Domaine de
l’Education des Adultes (Belgium) 39312-CP-1-95-0-BE-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Study of the use of technologies in Adult Education.
Analysis of the needs and potential demand to improve the working of infrastructures within the European Union.
no. 10
Project EurotooLLs – European tools for Lifelong Learning
through Adult Education Networks (Belgium) 39724-CP-1-97-
76
1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of electronic networks for
Adult Learning in Europe to stimulate synenergies between
actors, promote electronic publications and train to the use of
electronic networks for learning purposes.
no. 11
L’Union Economique et Monétaire et les Citoyens (Belgium)
39729-CP-1-97-1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Sensibilisation to the
EURO and the changes it might bring, targeting a wide popular
public to enhance the European construction.
no. 12
La toponymie urbaine: lieu de mémoire des identités régionales
et d’une culture européenne (Belgium) 39744-CP-1-97-1-BEADULT EDUC-ADU Learning on our regional and European
memory via urban toponomy – 3 case studies: Louvain-la-Neuve
(BE), Puusala (S), Béziers (F).
no. 13
Une éducation informelle des adultes par l’analyse de l’image.
Du régional à l’universel à travers la bande dessinée (Belgium)
39749-CP-1-97-1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Exploration of the
possibilities of comics by critical analysis as a tool for arising
cultural awareness.
no. 14
Répertoire européen des méthodes et des outils d’éducation à
la santé des adultes – Jalons pour une évaluation formative
(Belgium) 39962-CP-1-97-1-BE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Repertory
of tools and evaluative approach of Health Education in Europe
including cultural representations and environmental issues.
no. 15
Integration Contra Nationalismus – Aufgabe der Europäischen
Erwachsenenbildung (Germany) 25055-CP-2-97-1-DE-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Integration versus nationalism. Analysis of extremeright wing movements and development of learning materials on
the subject to promote the European dimension.
no. 16
European Adult Education – Responsability for Our Environment
(Germany) 25067-CP-2-97-1-DE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Promotion
of a work-book and provision of courses regarding environmental protection. Based on the UN’s Agenda 21 (to realise worldwide measurements aiming at sustainable development). Course
will be available on the Internet.
no. 17
EMAC – European Multi Agency Cooperation
(Germany)
25226-CP-2-97-1-DE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Multicultural, sociopedagogical co-operative project. Creation of an electronic network on intercultural movements.
77
no. 18
Learning to Live in a Multicultural Society (Germany) 34443CP-3-97-1-DE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Analysis of Adult Education
practice in Europe concerning minority groups and migrant populations. Development of a comprehensive action programme to
integrate anti-racist and anti-discrimination practices into the
training of Adult Education trainers.
no. 19
Linking Adult Education With Open Culture And Museum (Germany) 34459-CP-3-97-1-DE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Horizontal
network partnership between regional museums and adult education providers in order to link cultural work with potential of
adult learning processes.
no. 20
Schlüssel zum Nachbarn (Germany) 39260-CP-1-95-1-DEADULT EDUC-ADU Produce multilingual documentation on the
various perceptions of European integration and a series of
portraits from television in different countries. Also produce a
CD-ROM which will include the results of the documentation
and television portraits.
no. 21
Crosscultural perspectives in environmental adult education –
The pedagogical way of “good examples” (Germany) 39727CP-1-97-1-DE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Environmental education on
ecological issues for adult learners with an exchange programme
for learners. Targeting especially retired and unemployed persons.
no. 22
Erwachsenenbildung im Strafvollzug – Erhöhung der Resozialisierungschancen durch Erweiterung der sprachlichen und
kommunikativen Kompetenz (Germany) 39735-CP-1-97-1-DEADULT EDUC-ADU Reinsertion of immigrant prisoners via the
improvement of communicative skills and improved linguistic
competencies.
no. 23
Euromed – Mit Bildungsmedien Vergangenheit bewältigen und
Zukunft in Europa gestalten (Germany) 39743-CP-1-97-1-DEADULT EDUC-ADU Organisation of seminars to improve European awareness via European History.
no. 24
LILL Learning in Later Life (Germany) 39750-CP-1-97-1-DEADULT EDUC-ADU Integration of European citizenship awareness in Adult Education with the use of multimedia.
no. 25
BASIC – Basisqualifikation für erwachsene Semi-Analphabeten
im Rahmen allgemeinbildender Alphabetisierungs- und Grundbildungsmaßnahmen (Germany) 39971-CP-1-97-1-DE-ADULT
78
EDUC-ADU Development of autonomous learning models with
European recognition to improve personal development, social
and vocational integration for (semi-)analphabetics.
no. 26
Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning (Denmark) 25068CP-2-97-1-DK-ADULT EDUC-ADU Establishment of a European
network to improve the work of national based Learning
Boutiques by preparing newsletters to develop awareness of the
European Dimension of Learning Boutiques and develop a
course for facilitators in potential Learning Boutiques to develop
this concept.
no. 27
European Rural University – Session 96 (Denmark) 25070-CP1-96-1-DK-ADULT EDUC-ADU Organisation of a 4 day conference in Vejle, DK (with about 250 participants) concerning
adult and continuing education in rural districts and the role of
voluntary organisations. Definition of how voluntary organisations can improve and develop economic and social activities in
rural areas.
no. 28
EVC – European Virtual Classroom (Denmark) 34465-CP-1-951-DK-ADULT EDUC-ADU Sharing of pedagogical and methodological experience through interactive E-mail and videoconferencing to promote adult students’ cooperation across
European borders. Development of new methods of education
in Adult Education (social science, language etc.).
no. 29
Ttari – Training for Teachers of Adult Refugees and Immigrants
(Denmark) 39734-CP-1-97-1-DK-ADULT EDUC-ADU Training
of teachers of adult refugees and immigrants to improve access
to adult education within the host country and facilitate the transition.
no. 30
European Programme Manager (Denmark) 40505-CP-1-97-1DK-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of a transnational model
using NTIC based on good practice to train European programme
managers and developers.
no. 31
Manual Europeo para la Difusión de la Información de Educación de Pérsonas Adultas
(Spain) 25184-CP-2-97-1-ESADULT EDUC-ADU Comparative analysis of information channels to prove that non-participation in adult education activities
can be reduced through better information dissemination. Production of a handbook describing these information channels so
that many more adults may be reached.
79
no. 32
Euro-Edu: Educación en Politica Europea (Spain) 25205-CP-196-1-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of training material to inform, educate and raise the awareness of EU citizens concerning European Community policies. The courses will cover the
European Commission, European environmental, professional
training, labour and cultural policies. The training material will
be in electronic form, supported by multimedia techniques and
include a self-learning methodology.
no. 33
Software de Enseñanza Asistida por Ordenador Sobre Medioambiente (Spain) 25209-CP-1-96-1-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of software (computer assisted learning) for adults in
geographically and socio-economically disadvantaged regions,
on the impact of different factors on the environment. Analysis
of the most important ecosystems, to encourage a change of attitude towards environment and its problems, both at an individual and a collective level.
no. 34
Edición de Materiales de Neolectura (Spain) 25605-CP-1-961-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Publication of “neolectura” documents
to be used in adult education centres which will draw on
the experience of adult education teachers and pupils in the
different participating centres. Elaboration of appropriate texts on
European issues and in foreign languages for the basic education
of adults.
no. 35
Educación Ambiental: Reflexión Local Para el Cambio Global
(Spain) 25633-CP-1-96-1-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development
of teaching material in the environmental field aimed at the
different groups of adult learners, particularly disadvantaged
groups. Creation of an education action through awareness
raising on questions common to all European citizens.
no. 36
Guia Europea de la Formación de Adulto (Cursos de Verano
1996) (Spain) 35802-CP-2-96-1-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Publication of a European directory of summer courses organised in
different Member States to encourage adults to combine summer
holidays and education (including cultural, linguistic and social
education) so as to increase their competitiveness.
no. 37
Older Adults as helpers in learning processes (Spain) 35804CP-2-96-1-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Dissemination of research,
already carried out on the important role older people can play
in adult education, to 14 countries. Production of a guide and
video on good practice in this field.
80
no. 38
Programas Formativos Globales para la Prevención y Tratamiento de Familias en Situación de Marginalidad y Exclusión Social
(Spain) 39313-CP-1-95-0-ES-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development
of training projects adaptable to different Member States to
facilitate the social integration of disadvantaged women.
no. 39
Estudio sobre la participación Declaración de los Drechos de
los participantes (Spain) 39905-CP-1-97-1-ES-ADULT EDUCADU Study on the role of formal and informal institutions in the
sensibilisation of adults to their role as citizens.
no. 40
The Travelling Vincent Folk High School (Finland) 25275-CP1-96-1-FI-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of greater knowledge and awareness of and strategies for addressing issues faced
by European language minorities, mainly through a “Travelling
Folk High School” which will visit the four countries involved
over a period of 12 weeks. A Pedagogical Handbook will be produced.
no. 41
Supporting European Citizenship and the European Dimension
in Instruction through Publications and Teaching Materials by
Editors of Adult Education Publications in Europe (Finland)
34452-CP-3-97-1-FI-ADULT EDUC-ADU Introducing the
European Dimension into Adult Education teaching materials.
Production of guidebooks, practical tools and an electronic
network between editors. Organisation of seminars.
no. 42
ACE: Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly “Lifelong
Learning in Europe” (Finland) 35806-CP-2-96-1-FI-ADULT
EDUC-ADU “Lifelong Learning in Europe” is a quarterly journal
which aims to collect, disseminate and discuss research, introduce different concrete cases, solutions, good practice etc. in
Adult Education.
no. 43
Pour des Citoyens Européens Antiracistes Tolérants et Solidaires
(France) 34447-CP-2-96-1-FR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Produce interactive educational software and a CD-ROM in English, French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch based on European legislation and legislation from specific Member States.
no. 44
Apprendre l’Europe pour faire l’Histoire (France) 34449-CP-296-1-FR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of a civil education
programme by a group of experts from the 15 Member States.
Evaluation of the programme by a Committee of scientific
researchers. The programme is to be made available for the intergovernmental Conference in 1996.
81
no. 45
Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine
de l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E. (France) 34460-CP-2-961-FR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of an interactive database
between agents in charge of local and regional development,
construction of support tools for self-learning and identification
of cooperation between local initiatives and adult education
organisations.
no. 46
Des Citoyennetés des Européens à la Citoyenneté Européenne
(France) 34461-CP-2-96-1-FR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Build a
pedagogical tool for adult learners to raise their awareness and
their knowledge of the European Union. The tool will be printed
and subsequently produced on CD-ROM. It will be based on a
comparative study of European citizenship.
no. 47
Formation Européenne d’Educateurs d’Adultes (France) 39739CP-1-97-1-FR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Training of trainers in adult
education to capitalise on individual experiences and backgrounds of participants to improve group dynamics.
no. 48
15 pays dans une valise (France) 39824-CP-1-97-1-FR-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Elaboration of a transnational journal made by
learners as a tool to fight against analphabetism.
no. 49
Professional Development of Church-Based Adult Educators
(United Kingdom) 25071-CP-1-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Development of a modular programme for the initial training and
on-going professional development of those involved in adult
education in Churches in Europe (paid and volunteers). Production of multi-language distance training materials supported by
all major Protestant churches.
no. 50
Cultural Education and Action for Development (United Kingdom) 25076-CP-2-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Explore the
effects of cultural action approaches in adult education. Publication and dissemination of the research findings in professional
journals and guidebooks.
no. 51
A European Adult Education Programme for Trade Unions
(United Kingdom) 25088-CP-2-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Review of learning opportunities and the development of three
open and distance learning modules (common core in multilingual versions, with joint accreditation framework) on European
themes of particular significance for Trade Union members.
82
no. 52
Core Skills for Disadvantaged Adults (United Kingdom) 25094CP-2-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Widen participation in education of disadvantaged groups by developing six core modules
focusing on learning skills, information technology, numeracy,
personal skills and citizenship. Guidelines for adult education
workers covering recruitment, motivation, effective learning strategy and teaching methodology will support the modules. Very
strong focus on second chance learning through lifelong learning. Using open and distance learning and computer.
no. 53
Safer Environments in European Communities (United Kingdom) 25103-CP-1-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development
of materials in the area of environmental protection and sustainability for safer environments in local communities, on a transnational citizen partnership basis, to ensure adults are involved
in developing their knowledge and experience of European identity. Production of guidelines and education materials.
no. 54
Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults Through Expressive
Arts (United Kingdom) 25127-CP-2-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUCADU Exchange of information on selected topics relating to the
provision and management of adult education for adults with
learning difficulties or who are visually or orally impaired. Staff
exchanges and joint delivery of courses in the form of Arts Festivals.
no. 55
Studies in Exploring the European Dimension (United Kingdom)
25137-CP-1-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of
modules in textiles/crafts and the humanities/European studies
with a European Dimension which draw on the traditions,
cultures and approaches of each country. The modules will be
especially accessible to disadvantaged students through open
and distance learning means.
no. 56
VisioNet AdNet, Outreach and Languages for Adults (United
Kingdom) 25194-CP-2-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Promotion
of good practice and dissemination of new developments in outreach education and innovative methods of language acquisition
for adult learners. production of a quarterly journal with information and reports, to be also used as a forum for discussion,
evaluation and new contacts. Training events and resources for
trainers in adult education.
no. 57
Adult Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning (United Kingdom) 25375-CP-1-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU
83
Improvement of adult literacy to enhance the ability of learners
to learn efficiently and improve their access to workplace delivered continuing vocational training, flexible learning and lifelong
learning generally across the participating European countries.
Compare current practices, consider different methods to identify workers’ basic training needs, develop recognised and validated workplace systems etc.
no. 58
AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners (United
Kingdom) 34462-CP-2-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of
a minimum of four European Studies modules aimed at various
disadvantaged groups which will be translated into four languages. Accreditation (if possible using ECTS principles) and
exploration of the feasibility of delivery by Open and Distance
Learning.
no. 59
European Adult Learners’ Weeks (United Kingdom) 35811-CP2-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Identifying the main elements in
the UK Adult Learners Week (ALW) to pass on to initiatives in six
European countries in preparation for a European ALW. Involving the media, industry, national and local government. Aimed
especially at socially disadvantaged groups.
no. 60
Divedad: Diversity in Education for Adults (United Kingdom)
37090-CP-1-95-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Production and delivery of Open and Distance courses in European diversity in three
languages. Creation of modules, testing and evaluation and
extension to other countries.
no. 61
Integrating European Workers’ Education (United Kingdom)
37189-CP-1-95-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of a
directory in English, French and Spanish and information service
for better information, country by country, on adult education in
Europe, including options for a common action plan and assessment of possibilities for using computer-mediated distance
learning.
no. 62
Feasibility study on producing an interactive directory of examples of teaching materials for Adult Learners (United Kingdom)
37189-CP-2-96-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of a
directory in English, French and Spanish and information service
for better information, country by country, on adult education in
Europe, including options for a common action plan and assessment of possibilities for using computer-mediated distance
learning
84
no. 63
MIWEUL – Making it Work: European Universities and Lifelong
Learning
(United Kingdom) 39741-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Survey on practical and political developments of
Lifelong Learning in Europe via a survey of theoretical patterns
and an analysis of case-studies applying both to real and potential actors either in political, private or public sectors.
no. 64
The Learning Bridge: a programme of support for older learners (United Kingdom) 39762-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUCADU Integration of European citizenship awareness in adult
education with the use of multimedia.
no. 65
PEDEC – Popular education for Democracy and European Citizenship
(United Kingdom) 39802-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Improvement of popular education for disadvantaged people by enhancing access to education via ODL and
development of European networks of trainers specialised on this
issue.
no. 66
Supporting Adult Learners to Achieve Success (United Kingdom) 39811-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Survey on
learning models based on motivation to support learning
processes of adults with low formal education.
no. 67
Dialogue: Parent Education in Europe
(United Kingdom)
39838-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of
parental education model to help parents improve their
knowledge to enable them to facilitate the learning process of
their children.
no. 68
CAPAE – Capabilities for Progression in Adult Education (United Kingdom) 39893-CP-1-97-1-GB-ADULT EDUC-ADU Improve
capacities of progression in adult education by the development
of assessment modules for study skills and personal developmental skills targeting especially disadvantaged learners.
no. 69
European Environmental Action (Greece) 25252CP-1-96-1GR—ADULT EDUC-ADU Promotion of cooperation between
organisations offering continuing education for adults and organisations with experience in the development of networks, materials and dissemination. Improvement of the quality of education
packages and achieving a European Dimension for environmental protection issues.
no. 70
Réponses pour une Europe Interculturelles (Greece) 39820-CP1-97-1-GR-ADULT EDUC-ADU Enhancement of social integra85
tion of second and third generation of migrants via increased
awareness of European dimension – case study on Greek immigrants.
no. 71
ADNET Adult Education Network (Ireland) 25264-CP-1-96-1IE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Identification of innovative developments
in adult education particularly concerning isolated rural communities; adoption of good practice in delivering adult education
and use of open and distance learning as a system of delivery.
no. 72
European Studies Tourism Training Module (Ireland) 25269-CP2-97-1-IE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development of a module incorporating European studies into tourism training for adult learners. The module will offer a general overview of the European
Union, study the implications of the European Union and its
legislation for the tourism industry and study the tourism, culture
and heritage in each of the partner countries.
no. 73
The Centres of Light and Learning Project (Ireland) 25284-CP1-96-1-IE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Four libraries in Ireland, Denmark
and Italy will exchange and promote awareness of Europe and
information on their local communities. This will be done
through exhibitions of photographs, documents and art; books;
newspapers; workshops etc.
no. 74
La Musica nella Storia Europea (Italy) 25050-CP-2-97-1-ITADULT EDUC-ADU Based on the assumption that music can
play an essential role in awareness raising of the European
Dimension, this project aims to encourage the understanding of
European history through activities based on the understanding
of music.
no. 75
INTERLAB 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la
formazione del cittadino europeo (Italy) 25057-P-2-97-1-ITADULT EDUC-ADU Development of an information and pedagogical action for adults with little training through the creation
of an international education laboratory on environmental and
cultural heritage.
no. 76
Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura (Italy) 25646-CP-2-97-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Production
of a video and a guide as well as the creation of an observatory
to encourage the dissemination of European experience in
promoting reading for disadvantaged adults, particularly in
peripheral areas.
86
no. 77
Mediapolis – Centro di uso attivo dei Media per l’Educazione
degli Adulti (Italy) 34472-CP-3-97-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Create a video library in Italy, networked with similar ones in
France and Belgium. An active use of the library and the production of audio-visual material by adult learners is encouraged. The
data will be accessible on the Internet.
no. 78
Europe is a chance: let’s Get it!: EUCHE (Italy) 39271-CP-195-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU 1.) Language courses for adults
through cultural media (theatre and cinema). 2.) Telematic
forums for professionals and volunteers operating in Adult
Education non-governmental organisations.
no. 79
Itinerari Mediterranei per l’Educazione Ambientale e Culturale
del Cittadino Europeo
(Italy) 39314-CP-1-95-0-IT-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Creation of a guide (in Greek, Italian and Spanish)
of Mediterranean routes. The main theme is a comparison
between national identity and European citizenship and cultures
and environments.
no. 80
GeOrGe – Genitori Orientamento Genitori (Italy) 39817-CP1-97-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Collaboration of educative film
producers and learning centres to develop a series on changes
in Europe since the Second World War.
no. 81
SA-EDA Stratégies d’Amélioration de l’éducation des adultes
dans des contextes régionaux
(Italy) 39852-CP-1-97-1-ITADULT EDUC-ADU Survey of perspectives in transnational cooperation in Adult Education: context, needs, market
no. 82
ARS et VITA – Le Stagioni della vita: viaggio intorno alle arti
(Italy) 39890-CP-1-97-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Enhance the
access to artistic expression for personal development as a means
of transnational and trans-generation communication.
no. 83
Dialogo tra generazioni: conservare e trasmettere memoria
(Italy) 40057-CP-1-97-1-IT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Valorisation of
individuals in the chain of collective memory transmission to
facilitate exchange between generations and communication of
historically, sociologically lived experience.
no. 84
ERDI AE Networking
(Netherlands) 25288-CP-1-96-1-NLADULT EDUC-ADU Systematic exchange of the most recent
developments in adult education and in related areas within the
European Union. Emphasis on coordination and integration of
adult education and vocational education; organisation of the
87
offer in adult education by using open and distance learning
means to enhance flexible learning; development of telematic
tools for the training of trainers.
no. 85
ADEPT: Adult Education in European Perspective for Target
groups
(Netherlands) 35810-CP-3-97-1-NL-ADULT EDUCADU Create German and Dutch adapted versions of a Danish
language, arts and crafts module for migrant women.
no. 86
Méthodes et Techniques de Gestion de Projets Transnationaux
pour l’Education des Adultes (Netherlands) 35812-CP-1-95-0NL-ADULT EDUC-ADU Creation of a guide (handbook, database
etc.) to prepare and manage transnational projects in adult education. Taking the monitoring and evaluation of projects developed within the Socrates programme as an example.
no. 87
Training of Volunteers in Adult Education (Netherlands) 39315CP-1-95-0-NL-ADULT EDUC-ADU Exchange of good practice.
Bringing together adult educators working on the training of
volunteers to identify their specific training needs in a European
context.
no. 88
Cocodis: core competence in the digital society (Netherlands)
39930-CP-1-97-1NL-ADULT EDUC-ADU Enable access to NTIC
to a larger audience to prevent exclusion from the Information
society.
no. 89
Second Chance for Disabled Adults – a Second Chance in Adult
Education (Norway) 25300-CP-2-97-1-NO-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Improvement of access for disabled adults to higher education
in terms of second-chance education, through information
gathering, creating and up-dating data-bases, producing
examples of good practice, testing proposed models in target
institutes and disseminating findings widely.
no. 90
Preparing for European Senior Citizenship: Comparison of
Methodologies and Development of Methods in Adult Educator
Training (Norway) 25309-CP-2-97-1-NO-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Improvement of the quality of mid-career and pre-retirement
education by implementing effective training through the
development of modules for the training of adult educators. This
will be based on incorporating innovative approaches being
developed in each Member State. After testing and evaluation, a
handbook of good practice will be produced on CD-ROM.
88
no. 91
Simulab, WWW-Simulations in Adult Education (Norway)
25313-CP-2-97-1-NO-ADULT EDUC-ADU Increasing the level
of cultural awareness in adult education by enhancing the quality of language learning. Use of World Wide Web as an educational environment whereby a “Simulab” can be created establishing realistic environments in which to develop and practise
communicative skills transnationally.
no. 92
CLAIM-ED / Motivating European Adults for Education (Portugal) 25327-CP-2-97-1-PT-ADULT EDUC-ADU Experience and
good practice exchange through the organisation of seminars,
elaboration of guidebooks for adult education trainers in several
languages and establishment of guidelines for the design of training modules.
no. 93
The Golden Rule (Sweden) 25314-CP-2-97-1-SE-ADULT EDUCADU Use of drama performance and associated audience
seminars and educational material to improve European crosscultural communication and social awareness on current issues
in and about Europe. Collaborative creation of original material
on a common theme, national and joint performances to large
audiences (11,000), production of associated teaching materials
and reports.
no. 94
Environment in European Adult Education Adult – Agenda 21
(Sweden) 25319-CP-1-96-1-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Development, via 9 mini-projects, of an environmental network and
resource for adult education, based on the UN’s Agenda 21.
Translation of environmental texts into teaching material,
integrated into English and German courses; a database on water,
air and soil; social awareness aspects (reports); cultural studies.
no. 95
The Aurora Project (Sweden) 34473-CP-3-97-1-SE-ADULT
EDUC-ADU Setting up a database to promote the intercultural
dimension of adult education and to promote language skills.
Enhance self-confidence and facilitate mobility and encourage
the use of new information technologies especially by women
and adult students so as to improve their competitiveness on the
European labour market.
no. 96
Multicultural Health Care
(Sweden) 35807-CP-2-96-1-SEADULT EDUC-ADU New method (problem-based education)
and new areas of educating adults and unemployed immigrant
women in the field of health care, in order to launch a teacher
training programme.
89
no. 97
The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality (Sweden) 37089CP-1-95-0-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Dissemination of good
practice between North and South. Series of workshops and exchange of students and teachers between a network of 20 Folk
High Schools in Nordic countries with adult education centres
in other Member States.
no. 98
Multi-lingual Data-base of Adult Education Terminology (MLDAT) (Sweden) 37091-CP-1-95-0-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Development of a database of about 2500 key words in adult
education terminology. Accessible in several European languages
(Swedish, Danish, Finnish, English, German, French, Norwegian,
Icelandic and Faeroe language).
no. 99
EU2000 (Sweden) 39814-CP-1-97-1-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Collaboration of educative film producers and learning centres
to develop a series on changes in Europe since the Second World
War.
no. 100 Imitate – Innovative Methods in Teaching Adults Today in
Europe (Sweden) 39823-CP-1-97-1-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU
Creation of a European degree for adult pedagogy to improve
training of adult educators working especially in non-formal
sectors.
no. 101 PIAE – Popularly Initiated Adult Education (Sweden) 39917CP-1-97-1-SE-ADULT EDUC-ADU Study on potentialities for
popularly initiated adult education – state of art, perspectives.
90
b) Case Studies and 20-liners
The case studies produced by the “MOPED” experts represent the empirical basis for the evaluation of the SOCRATES Action “Adult Education” as
a whole, and in particular for the analysis in accordance with agreed criteria (cf. Chapter III).
In the context of the evaluation project “MOPED” the case studies served
a twofold purpose:
– informing the other experts about the main topics, problems and aims
of those projects which they had not analysed themselves
– giving an assessment of the projects according to the criteria agreed.
The case studies were produced individually. As a result of varying opportunities for access to the projects and individuals, they were based upon
different types of data: apart from the project materials (reports etc.) to be
submitted to the European Commission these included interviews with
various partners, different products, and additional research of various
kinds. Accordingly, the case studies were structured in different ways.
It had been agreed that the case studies should meet the following criteria:
– They should distinguish between the content and the proceedings of a
project;
– they should distinguish between the view of the author of the case studies, the description of the project and the opinions of the interviewees;
– projects should not be evaluated in their own right but inasmuch as they
contributed to the overall aims of the SOCRATES Adult Education Action;
– particular consideration should be given to project management;
– they should contain a commentary on the project by the evaluating expert; and
– particular consideration should also be given to project partnerships,
distinguishing between new and existing partnerships.
The case studies reproduced here took into account:
– the initial project proposal;
– the project report on the first year;
– the application for the second year;
– the answers to the Commission questionnaire;
– the final report (if available); and
– the products of the project.
Much more information on the projects was of course made available to
the experts at these meetings than is to be found in the case studies given
below. The intensive discussions of the case studies that took place at each
of the meetings of the experts, relating the projects to social contexts, were
not recorded. Their results, however, have found their way to this paper.
91
Case studies were produced for the following projects:
no. 01 Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines Feministischen
Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle
no. 05 APEL – Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning
no. 06 ACCES: Par l’Alphabétisation à la Compréhension et la Connaissance de l’Europe
no. 07 ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe
no. 08 Observatoire: Etude de faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau
transnational européen spécialisé en matière d’éducation des adultes en milieu rural
no. 16 European Adult Education – Responsibility for Our Environment
no. 18 Learning to live in a Multicultural society
no. 26 Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning
no. 37 Older adults as helpers in learning processes
no. 41 Supporting European Citizenship and the European Dimension in
Instruction through Publications and Teaching Materials by Editors
of Adult Education Publications in Europe
no. 42 Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly “Lifelong Learning in
Europe”
no. 45 Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine de
l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E.
no. 51 A European Adult Education Programme for Trade Unions
no. 54 Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults through Expressive Arts
no. 57 Adult Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning
no. 58 AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners
no. 59 European Adult Learners’ Week
no. 69 European Environmental Action
no. 73 The Centres of Light and Learning Project
no. 75 Interlab 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la formazione del cittadino
no. 76 Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura
no. 77 Mediapolis – Centro di uso attivo dei Media per l’Educazione degli
Adulti
no. 84 ERDI-AE Networking
no. 85 ADEPT – Adult Education in European Perspective for Target groups
no. 87 Training of Volunteers in Adult Education
no. 89 Second Chance for Disabled Adults – a Second Chance in Adult
Education
no. 91 Simulab – WWW-Simulations in Adult Education
no. 93 The Golden Rule
92
no. 94
no. 95
no. 97
no. 98
Environment in European Adult Education Adult – Agenda 21
The Aurora Project
The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality
Multi-lingual Database of Adult Education Terminology (ML-DAT)
In addition to the case studies there are the so-called “20-liners”: short
descriptions of the relevance of projects. 20-liners exist for the following
projects:
no. 01 Institut zum Aufbau und zur Etablierung eines Feministischen
Grundstudiums und Forschungsstelle
no. 05 APEL – Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning
no. 06 ACCES: Par l’Alphabétisation à la Compréhension et la Connaissance de l’Europe
no. 07 ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education and
Europe
no. 08 Observatoire: Etude de faisabilité pour la constitution d’un réseau
transnational européen spécialisé en matière d’éducation des adultes en milieu rural
no. 16 European Adult Education – Responsibility for Our Environment
no. 18 Learning to live in a Multicultural society
no. 26 Learning Boutiques – for Lifelong Learning
no. 37 Older adults as helpers in learning processes
no. 41 Supporting European Citizenship and the European Dimension in
Instruction Through Publications and Teaching Materials by Editors
of Adult Education publication in Europe
no. 42 Adult and Continuing Education Quarterly “Lifelong Learning in
Europe”
no. 45 Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans le Domaine de
l’Education des Adultes – B.I.S.E.
no. 51 A European Adult Education Programme for Trade Unions
no. 54 Enhancing Education for Disabled Adults through Expressive Arts
no. 57 Adult Literacy and the Development of Lifelong Learning
no. 58 AESAL: Access to European Studies for Adult Learners
no. 59 European Adult Learners’ Week
no. 69 European Environmental Action
no. 73 The Centres of Light and Learning Project
no. 75 Interlab 2 La didattica dei beni ambientali e culturali per la formazione del cittadino
no. 76 Pubblico e Biblioteca, Metodologie per la Diffusione della Lettura
no. 77 Mediapolis – Centro di uso attivo dei Media per l’Educazione degli
Adulti
93
no. 84
no. 85
no. 87
no. 89
no. 91
no. 93
no. 94
no. 95
no. 97
no. 98
ERDI-AE Networking
ADEPT – Adult Education in European Perspective for Target groups
Training of Volunteers in Adult Education
Second Chance for Disabled Adults – a Second Chance in Adult
Education
Simulab – WWW-Simulations in Adult Education
The Golden Rule
Environment in European Adult Education Adult – Agenda 21
The Aurora Project
The Nordic Dimension in the European Reality
Multi-lingual Database of Adult Education Terminology (ML-DAT)
Preliminary remark: It should be noted that the case studies and the 20liner reproduced here reflect the situation in 1997 when they were originally written. As a consequence, some of the statements no longer apply,
especially with regard to the “open questions”. As in this publication the
main purpose of the case studies is to illustrate the experts’ method of working, their content has not been updated.
Case Study 1: “ALICE – Information Service on non Formal Adult Education
and Europe” (no. 07)
by Ekkehard Nuissl
I. Formal information
The project was proposed in 1995 by the Flemish Centre for Adult Education (VCVO). It started in November 1995 and is now [i.e. 1997] in its third
year of three. The overall aim of the project is to improve the quality of
non-formal education in Europe by enhancing transnational co-operation,
exchanging information and experience and proposing examples of good
practice. This means – according to the plan of the project – collecting
information, processing it and providing for its dissemination. This requires
the existence of a European network which is to be reinforced during the
course of the project. In August 1997 the second version of the ALICE
database was completed – both as a loose-leaf edition and on two disks.
Time frame and progress of work
The project started in November 1995. The project team was set up, the
“steering committee” comprising the applicant organisation (VCVO in
Brussels) and the four regional offices of the European Association for the
Education of Adults in Brussels, Amersfoort, Helsinki and Barcelona. Some
94
time was first spent looking for national co-operation partners. These were
finally found in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and
Sweden. At the first two general meetings with all partners, procedures for
data gathering were discussed and agreed upon. On this basis, the individual partners proceeded to collect information on non-formal adult education in their own countries, giving a general overview of the situation and
compiling a detailed list of interests. The second, revised and updated
version of this database was completed in August 1997. At the present time,
in its third year, the project is concerned with:
– consolidating the European information network
– disseminating the second version of the database as loose-leaf edition
and on disk
– looking for potential partners for the network outside the European
Union
– updating the information collected in a third information round
– adding information on legislation, policies and regulations to the existing information (this was started in the second year of the project) as well
as providing supplementary information on countries outside the European Union for research and empirical studies
– investigating opportunities for the integration of the results of other
SOCRATES projects and initiatives, their information services and networks
– planning an evaluation seminar, to be held at the end of the third year
(summer 1998), with all partners and external experts, to discuss the
results of the project, and finally
– editing and publishing the third and last version of the database, possibly also on the Internet.
Working procedures
The project is directed by a steering committee, comprising the applicant
organisation and the four offices of the European Association for the Education of Adults. In addition, a further twelve institutions from EU countries have been involved. The scope and procedures for data gathering were
jointly agreed upon as well as a formal structure for data processing. The
data collection was carried out by the partner institutions in the individual
countries. The data gathered were either evaluated and processed by the
individual countries – with the support of the project – or sent to the central applicant organisation VCVO in Brussels for evaluation.
The working procedures in the third year are in accordance with the extended tasks described above.
95
Results
Besides the framework for data gathering and presentation that was agreed
upon by the partners, the major result of the project is a database on nonformal adult education in the partner countries (not for France and Luxembourg, for example). A second, revised version of this database already
exists, both in printed form and on disk. For the end of the third year a
newly revised database, also in two media, is foreseen. Another – equally
important – result is the establishment of a permanent European network
on non-formal adult education in Europe and the ensuing co-operation.
II. Basis for the case study
The basis for the case study consists of the original application, the short
reports to the Commission in Brussels, the questionnaire, the applications
for prolongation, and two interviews with partners (in Denmark and Germany).
III. Significance of the project
a) The aims of the project are of great importance at European level. There
is a need for a systematic, up-to-date compilation of data about contact
persons in the field of adult education in the individual countries. This
compilation, whilst taking account of the individual national structures,
will have to provide information that is compatible at European level.
To make this a realistic task, the aims and scope of the ALICE project are
restricted to the field of non-formal adult education, and in this case to
the collection of relevant addresses and basic information.
b) The presentation of the results in a loose-leaf edition which may be continually updated and on disk is in keeping with current possibilities for
dissemination. The presentation on the Internet, planned for the end of
the third year, and the production of a CD-ROM could further promote
dissemination.
c) The database was established co-operatively by institutions which did
not know each other before and which, in their respective countries, are
providers of services related to information and communication. Thus
the basis was laid for a European network.
d) By starting the compilation with data on international organisations, programmes and relevant international publications on non-formal adult
education, the project chose a useful and convenient starting point.
e) The list of key concepts and projects, also included in ALICE, represents
the beginnings of another important European database.
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IV. Criteria for the final MOPED report
a) The European added value of the project lies in the fact that basic data
about adult education in European countries have been gathered and
clearly laid out and can now be easily accessed. Transparency within
European adult education has thus been considerably improved. In
addition, a network has been established for gathering and processing
data from the individual countries.
b) The project is innovative in that it has reached agreement on a common
format (addresses, publishing organs, projects, etc.) for data gathering
in the individual countries, relating to a specific sector within the field
of adult education. This common structure, developed on the basis of
questionnaires used by all partners, represents a first step towards transnational comparability and the development of a transnational terminology. It is true that neither the procedures for the data collection nor the
resulting products are innovative in the strict sense. But at least the
project has opened new opportunities for communication at both European and, especially, national level.
c) Partnership and networking in this project occurred on two levels. The
“steering committee”, composed of representatives from five institutions
and forming the “second line” behind the co-ordinating Flemish
organisation, was responsible for the overall co-ordination of the project.
It was only by means of the – few – discussion meetings with all partners
that the remaining participating institutions concerned with the aims,
organisation and content of the project were involved in project
management processes. These occasions, however, were found to be
very useful for exchange and discussion of problems with data gathering,
comparability and data saving. The differences in institutional
backgrounds (capacities, staff, structures, competencies) between the
individual partner countries proved to be a problem. Furthermore, the
modalities of access to existing data systems and acceptance by other
institutions in the respective countries differed considerably. For some
of the partners this was the first time they had been involved in data
gathering at national level – this entailed problems which might even
threaten the continuation of work. Another problem was that no proper
network was established but rather a star-shaped formation of partners
with the VCVO in a central position. This was mainly due to the fact
that in Brussels a competent office had taken charge of the project and
held the reins.
d) Working languages of the project were, besides English, also Dutch and
French. The differences in language and culture between the various
partners caused only minor problems. This was due to the fact that data
gathering was carried out by means of comprehensive English-language
97
questionnaires. In some countries (Italy, Greece) the questionnaire was
translated, but in others (e.g. Germany) neither time nor money was sufficient to have them translated. Thus, from this point onwards the English terminology became standard. In many cases it is probable, though,
that this represents only an apparent standardisation, as the real language
problems are to be found outside the data gathered. During the interview attention was drawn to the fact that by using the English language
there would be fewer problems with terminology because of the existence of several English-language forerunners in the various countries.
In conclusion, it can be said that major language problems have been
avoided by using English but that no real solution has been found to the
“translation problem”.
e) The dissemination and distribution of the results presented serious problems. Both the loose-leaf edition and the disk have been insufficiently
disseminated. It is little known that the products are available and they
are difficult to obtain. The question of the numbers and identities of users
of the database still needs further clarification. Recently, there have been
virtually no inquiries – probably because of a lack of information and
marketing activities. Pilot copies are limited. Regulations concerning the
sale of the products are still lacking. It is likely that demand for ALICE
products is higher at national than European level. The possibility of
developing dissemination and distribution strategies at national level has
still not been investigated.1
f) Maintenance and durability of the product may easily be assessed in
principle. The existing ALICE database can be updated and further
developed continuously – better than the preceding SVE database. This
has been made possible by a more detailed description of the infrastructure, the functioning of the steering committee, the finding of steady
contact partners in the various countries and a more diversified data
structure. Problems with maintenance and durability rather concern
details. In principle, the aims pursued so far are realistic.
g) The question of demand for the products of the project in the field of
adult education has been dealt with in the paragraph on dissemination.
The demand that really exists is difficult to estimate. Co-operation at
European level has not yet been developed sufficiently to establish or
anticipate sales figures. The products are not sufficiently well known at
national level; so it could be that existing needs and demands have just
not been articulated so far.
1
98
It should be noted that this has changed considerably in the meantime. Both the ALICE
Handbook and database have been widely promoted and disseminated among authorities, associations and the wide public. The database is available on disk and CD-ROM
and is accessible on the Internet (http://www.vsy.fi/alice/) [editor’s note].
h) Transfer of the data is a controversial issue. Opinions differ on whether
to establish a European root file and adapt the national data to a common European structure (this would minimise costs and increase retrieval
opportunities) or rather to build WWW sites which can be more easily
accessed for research purposes and give more adequate portraits of the
individual institutions. A database placed within the WWW would provide answers to some of the problems (this is intended by the project),
but without hypertext the accessibility on WWW sites will not be ensured. In this case, only the surface would be adapted to the Internet.
On the other hand, it has to be said that building a web is too costly and
that there is too little experience available. Transfer will be easier, in
terms of functionality, with a European database than with a database in
hypertext on the Internet. In terms of modalities of use, however, the
latter option should be clearly favoured.
V. Project and programme organisation
Application procedure
The application procedure was fairly simple and uncomplicated. Problems
were rather caused by the late notification of the approval, which made it
difficult to set up the steering committee in time and to find national partner organisations which had not been involved in the application procedure. That is why the partner institutions were charged with their corresponding tasks relatively late and had no chance to have the questionnaires
translated into their own language or to contact support associations in their
countries earlier. In some countries it was difficult, because of lack of time,
to find suitable partner institutions.
Time frame
Three years had been foreseen in the original application. The project is
now in its third year. In this respect, there are no differences between the
period applied for and the approved time frame. Nevertheless, during the
course of the project the schedule drawn up by the applicant appeared to
be rather tight. Especially the proportion of time available to the number
of staff foreseen caused enormous pressure, further increased by the high
expectations of what the project could achieve. Despite the high level of
competence in the central project co-ordination team in Brussels, in the
end it was found that this team was too small, the expectations too high
and the time too short. The consequence was that many activities – especially those related to data gathering and examination – suffered.
Financial arrangements
The financial resources were sufficient: There were some problems, how99
ever, for the individual institutions who had to carry out the work at national
level. The resultant costs could not always be adequately covered by the
project. That is why national institutions not originally involved in the
project and taking part in the activities out of their own interest had to cover
costs which they had not foreseen and for which they lacked the resources. Such funding problems could threaten the durability of the project in
some of the countries and cause problems for the partner institutions.
Monitoring of project work
Monitoring of the project work took place at the general meetings, although
it is felt to have been insufficient up to now. For the end of the third year a
monitoring seminar has been planned, to which partner institutions and
external experts will be invited. It remains to be seen how this “global”
monitoring seminar will work and what will be its result.
Apportionment of funds
The partner institutions were satisfied (as far as I could see, at least) with
the division of the resources. Usually the level of motivation and involvement of the partners in the project is reflected by the shares. The fact
remains, however, that the shares of the institutions which were not among
the original applicants were considered to be insufficient.
VI. Conclusion, open questions
The working conditions of the project were considered to be acceptable –
if not ideal – in view of the existing conditions for European co-operation
in the area of education. The co-ordinating office in Brussels was perceived
to be competent, functional and co-operative so that there were no fundamental complaints about the co-operation structure (focus on Brussels,
hardly any other bilateral contacts).
The individual institutions which undertook the task of data gathering in
the various countries were viewed very differently as regards their competence. It seems that there have been problems in finding partner institutions. In some countries institutions able to perform such a servicing task
acceptably and accurately do not even exist.
In some cases the data gathering was carried out through secondary analysis (owing to the shortage of time and money as well as to the fact that
the questionnaire was only available in English and could not be translated
in good time). This accounts for the differences in the quality of the data
gathered in the respective countries. For the continuation of the ALICE
project the question of how to deal with this situation needs clarifying.
Ways of presenting the results have not yet been agreed upon. Both the
“European root file” and the “hypertext in WWW” present advantages and
100
disadvantages. The decision on which path to follow in future will depend
on the preferences of the users.
This brings up another problem with the project. The outlines of the user
“market” are still not quite clear. This is especially true for the European
level, where the product nonetheless seems to be easily available. At
national level, on the other hand, the individual products could very well
lead independent existences.
In addition, the quality of the existing data was judged differently according to country, which is probably due to the varying degree of competence
of the individual partner institutions. For example, the German data were
considered quite valuable by the interviewees, the Danish ones far less so.
It could be that factors other than those implicit in the project itself have
played a role in this assessment.
I consider that databases such as the ALICE database are important but can
only be used by a small group of multipliers. It is possible that the reasons
underlying the dissemination problem and the lack of clarity concerning
the demand for the product are of structural and hence lasting nature. It
would have to be discussed whether the amount of work is worthwhile for
a restricted circle of multipliers and steering institutions, or whether different procedures for central data gathering could be envisaged. At the present
time, I think of ALICE as the most advanced database system at European
level.
Case Study 2: “AESAL: Access to European Studies for adult learners”
(no. 58)
by Naomi Sargant
Start:
1 December 1995
Duration: 21 months (1 December 1995 – 31 August 1997)
I. Formal information
The University of Derby is a “new university” which has grown out of a
College of Higher Education. The project co-ordinator, Head of the Department of Continuing Education, had not been previously involved in any
“adult education” or European action, though her Vice-Chancellor had. She
thought that the Guidelines for the new Adult Education Action were interesting and fitted well with what her institution was concerned about: adult
learners, the disadvantaged, and work with a European dimension. If the
project succeeded, it should also be possible to add the European dimension into other studies.
101
The objective of the project was to develop learning modules at UK “access
level” to assist under-represented target groups in higher education to gain
entry to degree courses. Derby had an existing “access” course, multimodular, with both a part-time and a full-time programme. It was being
delivered in 5 further education colleges and at the University. It had its
own Board of Studies, was targeted at under-represented groups, but had
no European dimension.
About 300 access students start each year. In addition, 50 of these also take
the same programme as a foundation year on a 4-year degree. ‘Access’
students in colleges are funded by the Further Education Funding Council.
They are all over 21 years, 450 of them this year, aged mainly between 21
and 40, though getting slightly younger.
The subject content is European Studies, aiming at enhancing adult learners’ understanding of the political, economic and administrative aspects of
the European Union and of the cultures and traditions of the partners. A
further goal is to enhance adult education through European co-operation
in respect of accreditation and credit transfer and the dissemination of good
practice.
Time frame /progress
We got a call in December 1995 saying we had got the project and anticipated a start date of February 1996. The contract came through in February with a start date of December 1995 and a finish date for the first year of
September 1996, so the first year was very elided.... It is obviously legitimate to ask for an annual report, but the first year was overburdensome.
We had to do an annual report after less than a year, and it was only a twoyear project; an interim report would have been better. Then we didn’t get
confirmation of the second year until Jan 1997. (When the co-ordinator’s
words are recorded verbatim in this report, they are given in italics.)
Partner institutions
Country partners: how were they found? The co-ordinator had not previously worked with any European partners. She therefore involved the Dean
of the School of European and international studies (Sue Wall), outlining
to potential partners the parameters of what Derby could offer. The Department of Continuing Education wrote to 15-20 institutions on the Dean’s
list and picked the 7 or 8 who were interested. That support was enough to
encourage the Department to prepare a bid. The institutions and organisations that were interested were very varied, and were not all from higher
education.
It was my first European bid. We had too many partners. Because of my inexperience, I didn’t know what I was getting into. There had been other part102
nerships in the university, but in other areas. I had the adult expertise, but no
experience of Europe ... We hadn’t asked for enough money given the nature
of the task and the number of the partners. I set hugely ambitious targets –
too ambitious. It took much longer than I expected to explain.
The partner in France is from the Greta network, an institution which provides courses for adults who are either working, or who are unemployed
and looking for work. They offer two types of courses, for those preparing
for qualifications/diplomas and for those wanting vocational training. The
second French partner is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Rodez.
The German partner is the Zentrum für Weiterbildung in Frankfurt am Main.
This centre provides commercial courses for retraining the unemployed,
special courses for women both in towns and rural areas, courses for drug
addicts and courses for people whose qualifications are out of date. The
Greek partner is the (private) Omega Tsakalou Vocational Training Institute
in Thessaloniki. The Spanish partner is the University of Deusto and the
Swedish partner, which was to drop out, was the University of Umeå.
Extent and share of financing
The budgets must be not be too tight or not tight enough. The partners must
have enough money to have an incentive to do something!
Mode of work
We had a 2-day plenary session in Derby in May 1996, we showed them
our programme and asked how they could use it. We worked in English
and French, our students helped with the translation. We wanted to know
what they wanted to do, and asked them to put it in writing. We have still
got all of the partners. The first plenary set the agenda, outlined the tasks
and the budgets. Then we were mainly looking at the development of the
curriculum content. (see later)
The outline of the content was developed by Derby to fit in as a module in
its Access provision. Partners were free to decide how to develop, within
this content framework, materials relevant to their circumstances, and for
their target groups.
“Each partner took responsibility for its own agreed activities, while the coordinator continued to take responsibility for oversight, co-ordination and
progress-chasing as well as for other liaison and administrative activities.
All partners agreed that this was an effective way to ensure achievement of
the objectives of the project, since all partners also had a considerable
number of other calls on their time and attention.” (Final report, Year 2)
While this method of working kept the project within time and budget, the
partners agreed that it could have been improved by more networking,
sharing ideas at an earlier stage and keeping people up to date.
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Intended results
“The aims and objectives of the AESAL project were particularly relevant
to the SOCRATES Adult Education Action in that they addressed both
strands of the Action... to develop curricula for adults which would promote knowledge and awareness of Europe and, through a process of
accreditation, certification, quality assurance and agreed credit transfer
arrangements, to enhance adult education through European co-operation
and the sharing of good practice.” (Final report, Year 1)
II. Basis of information for the case study
Documentation provided by the University of Derby, including the interim
and final project reports, description and examples of products, together
with a detailed personal interview with the project co-ordinator.
III. Significance of the project
Why are the aims of the project significant for adult education?
“The aims and objectives of the AESAL project were particularly ambitious
in that they addressed both strands of the initial SOCRATES Action, in that
they had a learner focus in terms of curriculum development, accessibility,
flexibility, a particular emphasis on an adult curriculum within the concept
of European Studies, the exploration of different modes of delivery, and the
enhancement of motivation through the award of credit.
In addition, the [project] addressed the issue of enhancing adult education
through a process of European co-operation and the sharing of good practice around issues such as credit transfer, quality assurance, accreditation,
learning outcomes, assessment and self-assessment.” (Final report, year 2)
What role does the project play in different countries?
“The aims and objectives in both strands of the Action have been achieved
as envisaged, with different partners having achieved different outcomes
in relation to their own perceived needs and those of their target groups.
“Based on the same curriculum a wide range of modules has been produced with adaptations and versions appropriate to different contexts and
cultures; where appropriate these have been submitted for accreditation
through the North East Midlands Access Partnerships (NEMAP), the Derby
and the Greek modules have already been piloted, the University of Deusto
[Bilbao] partners have re-written a major part of their Leisure Studies programme to incorporate a European dimension into each element, and the
Germans have developed a German version, and incorporated a relevant
European element into a much wider range of its programmes”. (Final
report, Year 2)
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What are the project’s advantages ...
It had an excellent, conscientious and hard-working co-ordinator! Clearly
her role was an enabling and open-minded one, which allowed partners
to develop to their needs and strengths.
... and disadvantages?
It turned the suspected disadvantage, a peculiarly mixed bunch of partners,
some of whom were private organisations, to very good account.
What is the innovative character of the project?
We brought together a set of unusual partners and introduced them to
accreditation, quality assurance and learning outcomes which are innovative for them.
IV. Criteria for the final MOPED report
European added value
This is clearly spelled out in other sections, and ranges from collaboration
to culturally transferable frameworks, transference of innovative curriculum development and staff development.
Innovation
It was innovative for other countries in Europe to have “access course”
materials. It is also innovative for them to work with learning outcomes and
quality standards.
We were doing [the project] with partners who were new to Europe. They
had not thought of European Studies. We took what is taken as good practice here and were getting an understanding of it in other countries, but
then it hit structural barriers... e.g. in Greece while they are using these
credits, they cannot get them used for HE, because they cannot (as individuals) affect the HE system.
An innovation for Derby was to prepare a CD-ROM.
Partnership and networking
The set of partners is unusual. They are very heterogeneous and I underestimated the time to do the networking. (N.B. In her new project, she has
allowed for a two-day a week post to keep in touch with partners.)
“One of the issues to emerge from the project was the way in which some
initial uncertainty about whether or not collaboration between ‘perceived’
academic institutions and those organisations involved with a wider range
of learners would in fact work and be successful ... However, the collaboration and diversity of the institutions turned out to be particularly fruitful
both in terms of sharing good practice and also integrating different target
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groups into the concept of the development of the modules at a range of
levels and different numbers of credits for different learners, while sharing
the key principles of learning outcomes and accreditation.” (Final report,
Year 1)
Curriculum issues
Issues that emerged include: how far can individuals affect the curriculum
of their courses? This relates to how the curriculum is paid for: is it statefunded or what? Who controls it? How does the individual access that funding? Can the enterprise influence government policy?
“The principal pedagogical approaches ... concerned the development and
promotion of learning outcomes and assessment criteria alongside the more
traditional curriculum and content, as well as promotion of the concept of
European Studies as an academic area of study in its own right. The development of learning outcomes enables learners, tutors and external moderators to share a common understanding of what the learner knows, understands and can do as a result of undertaking the learning process. The focus
is therefore on the learner and not on the syllabus .... In addition, awarding credit for the achievement of learning outcomes gives significance to
all learning achievement, allows APL to be included and builds confidence
and motivation in adult and other disadvantaged learners.” (Final report,
Year 2)
Language and culture
The outline content was developed in English, but each partner developed
their modules in their own languages. The Spanish partner wanted an English version for its Leisure version. The Greek partner worked in English
with her students.
We should have developed a glossary at the start. The basic concepts need
agreement at the start.
“Other issues identified include understanding and harmonising the definitions, concepts, assumptions and systems as operated across national
cultures and their interpretation by partners in their various professional
contexts.” (Final report, Year 2)
Dissemination
Each partner had a local and regional network and a journal in addition to
their own Internet site. Derby did the overall dissemination, and has made
a unit exchange agreement. Everyone can use everyone else’s units, but
they must get approval for quality.
The range of products prepared already is impressive:
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1. Four European Studies modules in English, submitted for NEMPA accreditation.
2. Introduction to European Studies modules (three versions) developed
collectively by German, Greek and French partners, and also to be
delivered in French and Spanish.
3. Two European Studies modules developed by the French Greta.
4. Leisure dimension developed in Spanish by U. de Deusto.
5. A stand-alone CD-ROM of “The European Union: Institutions and
Processes” and a paper-based distance learning version of it.
6. Diskettes containing samples of assessment materials for the “European
Union: Institutions and Processes” and assessments/tests for the modules
developed by partners.
The partnership will hold the copyright and approve any form of dissemination. All products are available for use by all partners.
Sustainability
Every partner has now built it into their structures in some way or other.
[There are, however,] different attitudes of different partners to Europe: for
Germany, Europe is a threat, for Greece it is an opportunity.
Adult education requirements
“The goal for the University of Derby itself – empowering disempowered
adults.
“Through a project presentation at Ghent, it became clear that the extension across Europe of some kind of mutually recognised, quality-assured
credit-based curriculum, supported by a system of credit accumulation and
transfer relevant to adults (and not just HE) would be much welcomed by
those involved in adult education. However, it would be necessary to promote such changes on a large scale, with government support to gain a
European-wide system.” (Final report, Year 1)
Transferability
It is more like spokes out from the centre. The materials are not necessarily
transferable to our own partners, but to other institutions in the partner’s
country.
The basic idea has been developed in a variety of ways with great originality, and at a variety of levels. However, the original idea that it could also
be used to produce transferability of accreditation processes has not happened, though all the materials have been accredited in the UK by the
North East Midlands Access Partnership.
The idea of the transfer of accreditation has not been a failure as such –
but people are working with external structures/politics, etc., which indi107
viduals are not in a position to affect, though they are very interested in the
idea. The idea of a European credit structure would be of great interest.
They are all keen to learn from the processes.
“A variety of modes of delivery for the modules has been explored, including a fully stand-alone CD-ROM, the use of CD-ROM with written guides
and greater tutorial support, paper-based materials in conjunction with
tutorial support and with or without CD-ROM, diskettes for self-assessment
and assessment purposes, and work is in progress on a CD-ROM for the
Spanish version.
While prototypes have been tested with learners, distance delivery will be
piloted this coming academic year, demonstrating that the work will continue far beyond the life of the project, with the intention to produce distance learning materials for all the products of the project over the next 12
months, and to harmonise the technologies where there are current difficulties in partner countries.” (Final report, Year 2)
An equally steep learning curve was experienced with those staff involved
in transposing face-to-face learning materials and experience into distance
and multi-media mode. Some problems of communication were experienced between author/academic and technicians ... and sharing of good
practice perhaps through the SOCRATES Action in this area would be very
useful.” (Final report, Year 2)
V. Project and programme organisation
Application procedure
The time scale for applying and finding partners was limited.
Time frame
“More time could have been spent on sharing ideas and developing good
practice. Such discussions although time-consuming and occasionally frustrating, were extremely valuable and this acted as a valuable staff development exercise, unforeseen at the start.” (Final report, Year 2)
Financial arrangements
“A major organisational problem remarked on by all partners was the confusion and uncertainty caused by not knowing with any confidence whether the project was for one or two years. The financial contract indicated 24
months; other deadline dates indicated 21 months (Dec 1995-August
1997); and most administrative requirements assumed 12 months with
interim and ‘final’ reporting mechanisms. This made it extremely difficult
to organise and plan.... and was very problematic in relation to key parttime staff. It is ‘not fair on staff’ for the financing to be so insecure. Participants ought to be able to be reasonably confident that if they are clearly
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achieving the targets they should expect to continue and not be in the current state of blight and uncertainty.” (Final report, Year 1)
“Other comments made by partners included the burden of administrative
requirements in relation to the level of funding, a request for additional
funding for more visits and plenary sessions, fewer requests for similar
information in slightly different formats. ... However, partners expressed an
appreciation of the hard and serious work undertaken by a small team of
staff in the two Commission offices involved2 and were pleased that adult
education had been seen as a priority.” (Final report, Year 1)
Staff continuity was a particular issue. As above, it is “not fair on staff” for
the financing to be so insecure.
Reporting and monitoring
The first report had to be done as if it was the end of the project. It should
have been an interim report. It took too much valuable time. This Action
requires much heavier and more onerous reporting procedures, [than
others] particularly after the insecurity of the start.
(N.B. This point was echoed by Keith Forrester, Leeds University, who had
just spent two weeks not allowed for in the budget filling in the final questionnaire which, despite requests to TAO, he had not received until the end
of September. It was also echoed by Pat MacMahon who said it had taken
him 3 weeks to complete the financial side.)
Calculation of finances
Burden of preparing financial reports
VI. Conclusion, open questions
A main problem was the logistics and time involved in working with too
many partners (7). We only lost one partner (Umeå). If I had known that
Umeå was not part of a network of partners, I would have worked with a
different type of institution..... We lacked links with the Volksbildning.
2
i.e. the Directorate General XXII of the European Commission and the Technical Assistance Office (TAO)
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20-liner: “BISE – Banque de Données sur l’Innovation Sociale dans
le Domaine de l’Education des Adultes” (no. 45)
by André Schläfli
What is the societal problem to be matched in the project?
Individual perspectives are not much considered in adult education. It is
necessary to develop a connection between the perspectives an individual
has and the educational systems. We still lack assessment and validation
of individual qualifications.
What can be done to counteract this problem?
Education for everyone is a major concern. The philosophy of the project
rejects the notion of deficit. The real focus should therefore be on the
existing learning experience, knowledge and working experience gained,
instead. Every individual acquires certain competencies during his/her lifetime. The task of the project group is to show these competencies and to
document them publicly.
What are the aims of the project with this strategy?
That the individual plans for future development by reflecting on the current
situation.
What are the measures for reaching these aims?
CD-ROM:
A CD-ROM has been developed using Workers’ Educational Association
WEA documents as a basis. Experience in other member countries has been
included. The individual training programme is organised in 4 stages:
1. Stage: Who am I?
2. Stage: What values do I share with other people?
3. Stage: Where am I? Finding of my personal position
4. Stage: Where am I going? What shall I do? What do I know?
What is the product of the project and what is the contribution of the
project to the solution of the societal problem?
The CD-ROM is based upon five issues:
1. It is individual-centred. The focus is on the work of the individual
2. It is meant to appeal to people who do not take part in further education/training. It is meant to motivate them to learn.
3. Gaining new competencies; auto-reflection can facilitate the validation
of one’s own competencies. It must be possible to recognise these within a given system.
110
4. Right to Education for Lifelong Learning; the idea of an educational credit
card supports the development of knowledge via modules.
5. In adult education, a great deal of learning occurs in an informal way, at
work. This must be made visible somehow. At school, it is already evident that only 50% of the knowledge and competencies are formally
conveyed by the institution. Learning through experience and reflection
on it provide the basics. Reflections are then generalised and applied to
new situations.
Products/Materials: Philosophy paper, description of the CD-ROM, videos,
essays, project application.
The CD-ROM will be published in three languages: Dutch, French, English
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c) The Experts in MOPED
Arne Carlsen (Denmark/Sweden), born 1953, B.A., M.A. He is Director of
the Nordic Folk Academy in Göteborg (Sweden). Currently, he is visiting
professor of History and Philosophy at the Vitautas Magnus University of
Lithuania. He founded the International Centre for Adult Education at the
Nordic Folk Academy and is the founder and editor of the magazine Baltic
Dialogue. He is the editor of the journal of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
He has published numerous papers in English on the adult education
system in Nordic countries and many articles in Danish, Nordic and international journals on system, legislation and policies affecting adult education and lifelong learning.
Joaquín García Carrasco (Spain), born 1941, Prof., PhD. He has been a
lecturer and researcher at the universities of Valencia and Salamanca. He
is currently Professor at the University of Salamanca, member of the Task
Force de América Latina. He co-ordinated the third European Conference
on Adult Education in Madrid in 1995. His more than a hundred publications include Educación de adultos (Barcelona 1997).
Paolo Federighi (Italy), born 1948, PhD. He has been a lecturer and
researcher at the University of Florence for twenty years. He has worked
on many different subjects in the field of adult education. He has taken part
in several research programmes of UNESCO, has produced studies for the
Council of Europe and was a member of the Task Force Human Resources
of the European Community. In 1983 he founded the Italian Association
for Adult Education. In 1992 he was elected President of the European
Bureau for Adult Education – now the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA).
Ekkehard Nuissl (Germany), Prof. PhD, born 1946, sociologist and educationalist. He was Director of the Institute for Empirical Educational Research
in Heidelberg and Director of the Adult Education Centre of Hamburg.
From 1991, he has held the chair of adult education at the Phillips-University of Marburg and in 1998 he was appointed Director of the German
Institute for Adult Education (DIE) in Frankfurt/Main. He has represented
the Federal Republic of Germany within the OECD and at numerous European conferences on further and continuing education. In 1998 he was
elected president of the Consortium of European Research and Development Institutes for Adult Education (ERDI). He has published over 200
books and articles of which several are available in different European languages.
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Skevos Papaioannou (Greece), born 1947, Prof. Dr. rer. pol., sociologist and
political scientist. He has been Counsellor of Adult Education in the Prefecture of Attica, Greece and lecturer in philosophy and sociology at the
universities of Athens, Crete and Bremen. He is Professor of Sociology at
the University of Crete. He runs research projects on regional development
and the relationship between education and the labour market. He was
involved in research projects under the ESREA and ERASMUS programmes.
His numerous publications include Modernisierung und Bildung (Bremen,
1994) and Erwachsenenbildung in Griechenland (Frankfurt/M, 1997).
Naomi Sargant (United Kingdom), born 1933, Prof. M.A., social researcher, media expert with a commitment to opening up educational opportunities for adults. She was a founder member of the Open University, running
its Survey Research Department and becoming Professor of Applied Social
Research and Pro-Vice Chancellor in charge of Student Affairs. From 1981
to 1989 she was the founding Senior Commissioning Editor for Educational
Programming at Channel 4 television. She now chairs the national task
group on Technology for Lifelong Learning. She has written widely on the
education of adults, evaluation and the use of the media for education. She
is an executive member of NIACE and visiting professor at the Open University.
André Schläfli (Switzerland), PhD, born 1950, psychologist and educationalist. He has been project director in the field of vocational training at the
University of Freiburg, neuro-psychologist at the University Hospital of
Zurich, and training director at the Swiss Banking Association (professional and manager training). From 1992 he has been Director of the Swiss
Federation of Adult Education (SVEB), the national umbrella organisation
for further and continuing education in Switzerland. He represents his
country within UNESCO, the OECD, the Council of Europe and at conferences of the European Union. He is a board member of the European
Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA). He has published numerous articles on continuing vocational training.
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Publications
Cresson, E., The European Year of Lifelong Learning. Adults Learning, 7
(1996) 9, p. 215-218
DfEE (ed.), The Learning Age – a renaissance for a new Britain, London
1998
European Commission, Green Paper. Partnership for a new organisation of
work. COM (97) 128, final adopted on 16 April 1997
European Commission, SOCRATES Guidelines for Applicants 1996,
Luxembourg, September 1995
European Commission, SOCRATES Guidelines for Applicants 1997,
Luxembourg, September 1996
European Commission, Towards a Europe of Knowledge. Com (97) 563.
11 November 1997
European Commission, White Paper on Education and Training. Teaching
and Learning. Towards the Learning Society. Luxembourg 1996
Eurostat (ed.), Education across the European Union – Statistics and Indicators. Luxembourg 1995
Federighi, P. / Bax, W. et al., The Preparation and Management of Transnational Adult Education Projects. Suggestions for Project Leaders and Partners in the Socrates Programme. Amersfoort 1997
Malone, K. / Smith, K., European Adult Learner’s Week. The Socrates initiative. Lifelong Learning in Europe (1996) 1, p. 38-41
Murray, T.S. / Kirsch, I.S. / Jenkins, L.B. (eds.), Adult Literacy in OECD Countries: Technical Report on the First International Adult Literacy Survey,
Washington 1997
OECD (ed.), Literacy skills for the knowledge society, Paris 1997
Unesco-Institute for Education, Adult Education. The Hamburg Declaration. The Agenda for the Future, Fifth International Conference on Adult
Education 14-18 July 1997, Hamburg
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